A  SILOAM  WOMAN,  HER  INFANT  ON  HER  BACK  AND  PRODUCE  ON  HER  HEAD 


BIBLE    LANDS    AND    PEOPLES— MODERN 

BEING  A  COMPANION  VOLUME  TO  "THE  ORIENT  IN  BIBLE  TIMES" 

THE   PEOPLE 
OF   PALESTINE 

AN  ENLARGED  EDITION  OF 
"THE  PEASANTRY  OF  PALESTINE,  LIFE, 
MANNERS  AND  CUSTOMS  OF  THE  VILLAGE" 


BY 
ELIHU  GRANT 

PBOTE88OB  OF  BIBLICAL  LITERATUBE  HI  DAVEBFOBD  COLLEOB 


ILLUSTRATED 


PHILADELPHIA  AND  LONDON 
J.  B.  LIPPINCOTT  COMPANY 


COPTBIQHT,  1907,  BT  BL1HU  ORANT 
COPTBIOHT,  1921,  BT  J.  B.  LJPPINCOTT  COMPANY 


PRINTED  BT  J.   B.   LIPPINCOTT  COMPANT 

AT  THE  WASHINGTON  SQUARE   PRESS 

PHILADELPHIA,    U.   8.   A. 


TO    THE   MEMORY   OF 
HINCKLEY   GILBERT  MITCHELL 


4705: 


PREFACE  TO  SECOND  EDITION 

WE  thought  that  Palestine  had  passed  into  ancient 
history,  but  it  has  been  a  centre  of  modern  events. 
No  country  in  the  world  has  a  more  continuously 
interesting  and  profitable  story.  Its  present  popula- 
tion is  made  of  sturdy  and  able  people.  Three  great 
religions  call  it  Holy  Land.  It  presents  to  view  three 
distinct  types  of  human  society,  the  desert  nomad 
who  dwells  in  the  tented  encampment,  the  peasant 
villager  who  reminds  us  in  so  many  ways  of  the 
people  of  the  Bible,  and  the  more  foreign  looking 
and  mingled  folk  of  the  large  cities. 

We  have  picked  the  village  life  as  most  suggestive 
of  the  quaint  customs  of  the  past.  It  has  been  grati- 
fying to  have  those  who  know  this  life  best,  including 
villagers  themselves,  praise  the  accuracy  and  sym- 
pathy of  the  descriptions. 

The  volume  has  not  been  compiled  from  books, 
but  drawn  from  life.  An  additional  chapter  seeks 
to  sum  present  conditions. 

Life  has  changed  even  in  the  East  but  much  re- 
mained in  Palestine,  especially  under  the  Turkish 
regime,  that  is  suggestive  of  Bible  Times.  We  trust 
that  we  have  provided  here  a  cross-section  of  a  most 
interesting  period.  We  hope  for  even  more,  that  the 
reader  with  dramatic  imagination  may  be  able  to  fill 
the  places  and  figures  of  the  biblical  past  with  life. 

HAVEKFOBD,  PA.,  E.  G. 

FEBBUABY  24,  1921. 


A  few  words  that  are  pretty  well  fixed  in  popular  usage,  as  Beirut, 
Jaffa,  Jerusalem,  etc.,  are  not  changed  in  spelling,  but  for  most  Arabic 
words  the  following  alphabet  has  been  used  in  transliteration: 

r  gh  y 

b  z  f  a 

t  s  k  u 

th  sh  k  i 

j  ?  1  a 

h  d  m  u 

kh  t  n  i 

d  dh  or  z  h 

dh  w 

The  use  of  y  final  and  of  0  as  aids  to  pronunciation  will  be  of  obvious 
import.  When  a  foreign  word  occurs  in  the  book  for  the  first  time 
it  is  put  in  italics. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  I 

Introductory.  Remarks  on  the  country  of  Western  Palestine:  his- 
torical, topographical  and  geological;  distances,  levels,  rock  composi- 
tion, hills,  valleys,  caves,  soil,  etc.  The  waters:  rivers,  lakes,  the 
watershed,  the  Shephelah,  ponds,  springs,  cisterns,  reservoirs  and  pools. 
The  seasons:  wet  and  dry,  the  rainfall,  sun,  drought,  the  weather  accord- 
ing to  the  months,  effect  on  health  and  on  food  supply,  harvest.  The 
winds.  Flora:  trees  and  flowers.  Fauna:  wild  animals,  birds.  Scenery : 
appearance  of  cities  and  villages  in  Palestine.  Sites,  buildings,  gardens, 
roads,  paths,  wilderness,  agricultural  matters,  ripening  fruit,  vineyards, 
care  of  the  soil,  walls,  watch-towers,  terraces,  orchards,  olives,  figs, 
pomegranates,  etc.  Page  11. 

CHAPTER  II 

General  characteristics  of  the  population  of  Palestine.  The  Bedawin 
or  nomads.  The  village  and  its  people.  Moslems  and  Christians :  their 
distribution,  their  mutual  relations.  Description  of  the  peasant  man 
and  the  peasant  woman.  Page  43. 

CHAPTER  III 

Village  Life.  Introductory.  The  tribe:  how  constituted,  its  fellow- 
ship and  significance.  The  family  within  the  tribe.  Importance  of  a 
strong  family.  Marriage  in  family  and  tribe:  marriage  settlement, 
qualities  of  a  good  wife,  customs  and  ceremonies  preliminary  to  mar- 
riage, wedding  festivities  and  the  celebration.  The  status  of  the  new 
wife.  An  anomalous  state  of  affairs.  A  disappointed  lover.  Children: 
boyhood  and  girlhood,  importance  of  sons,  birth,  announcing  the  newly- 
born,  naming  the  child.  The  midwife,  care  of  babies,  attention  to 
children  hi  health  and  in  sickness,  clothing,  growing  up,  play,  amuse- 
ments and  work,  training.  Family  and  personal  names.  Page  51. 

CHAPTER  IV 

Village  Life.  The  houses  of  the  peasants:  structure,  arrangement, 
conveniences,  utensils  and  furnishings.  Foods:  their  preparation  and 
storing,  eating  customs.  Costumes;  male  attire,  female  attire.  House- 
hold industry:  division  of  labor  between  members,  women's  work, 
house,  oven,  field  and  wilderness.  Health  data:  poverty  and  super- 

7 


CONTENTS 


stition  as  foes  to  health,  treatment  of  the  sick,  common  ailments,  dis- 
eases, hospitals  and  medical  assistance.  The  dumb  and  the  blind. 
Treatment  of  the  insane,  the  leprous.  Death,  mourning,  burial,  graves. 
The  cholera  and  its  ravages  in  Palestine  in  1902,  attendant  evils, 
famine  and  quarantines.  Page  75. 

CHAPTER  V 

Village  Life.  Religion.  The  religious  basis  of  the  peasant  life. 
Country  shrines  venerated  by  the  peasantry,  saints,  tombs,  lamps, 
ruined  churches,  mosks,  reverence  for  patriarchs  and  prophets,  sacred 
trees.  Superstitions  concerning  localities,  minor  superstitions,  hair, 
doorways,  food,  evil  eye.  Prayer  of  women.  Fatalism.  Moslem 
prayer.  Neby  Mus&  procession.  Ramadan,  Bairam.  Eastern  and 
Western  Churches,  organization,  priesthood.  Fasts,  feasts,  proselyting. 
The  Samaritans  and  their  Passover.  Page  110. 

CHAPTER  VI 

Village  Life.  Business.  The  Palestine  peasant  as  a  worker.  Fann- 
ing the  first  business  of  the  village.  The  transition  from  the  life  of  the 
nomad  to  the  life  of  the  peasant.  Fellahfn.  Land  holdings  and  titles. 
Farming  rights.  Crops  and  sowing,  work  animals  and  their  manage- 
ment, care  of  the  standing  crops,  tares,  mists,  simultaneous  reapings, 
harvest-time,  threshing  and  cleaning.  Grape  season,  vineyard  districts, 
use  of  the  fruit,  raisins,  export  trade  in  raisins,  care  of  vineyards,  watch- 
towers  in  vineyards  and  orchards.  The  olive  crop  and  its  care.  Flocks 
of  sheep  and  goats,  the  young,  varieties,  the  shepherd.  The  wool 
business  and  kindred  industries,  spinning  and  weaving.  Undeveloped 
agricultural  possibilities.  The  village  market,  shops,  stores,  bargaining 
and  trade  customs,  measures  and  weights,  currency,  accounts,  money- 
lending,  village  crier,  the  go-between,  the  shaykhs  in  business  capacity. 
Transport  and  travel  in  the  country,  roads  and  vehicles.  Stone  and 
building  trades,  the  materials  and  the  tools.  Miscellaneous  trades, 
peasants  in  the  city  for  business  or  for  hire,  dealers  in  antiquities  and 
their  ways.  Page  130. 

CHAPTER  VII 

Village  Life.  Social  privileges  and  customs.  The  elements  that  con- 
tribute to  these,  kinship,  religious  association,  party  traditions,  prox- 
imity. Predominance  of  kinship  as  a  factor.  The  influence  of  religion 
as  a  factor.  Diversions  of  the  peasant,  conversation  and  the  amenities, 
calling  and  calls.  Greetings,  salutations,  colloquial  address,  business 
talk  and  discussion.  Guest-house  and  its  uses,  coffee-making,  food  for 
guests.  A  roofing-bee.  Play,  games,  celebrations.  Hunting.  Gipsies. 
Quarrels  as  an  anti-social  and  social  factor.  Revenge,  etc.  Page  158. 

8 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  VIII 

Village  Life.  Intellectual  matters.  The  state  of  learning,  revival, 
services  of  the  press  in  the  Levant.  Education,  schools,  missionary 
influence.  Languages  heard  in  the  country,  native  and  foreign.  The 
peasant's  pride  in  his  mother  tongue.  The  Arabic  language,  its  beauty 
and  symmetry,  literature,  dialects,  idioms,  colloquialisms,  exclamatory 
remarks,  gestures,  curses,  proverbs.  Page  170. 

CHAPTER  IX 

Village  life  in  the  concrete.  Description  of  actual  villages,  Ram 
Allah  and  el-Bireh.  Page  187. 

CHAPTER  X 

Village  life  in  the  concrete,  continued,  with  some  village  environs. 
Et-Tireh,  Khullet  el-' Adas,  'Ayn  'Arik,  Kefr  Shiydn,  'Ayn  Soba,  Baytm, 
Khurbet  el-Mokatfr,  Dayr  Dfwan,  e^-Tayyibeh,  Jifna,  'Ayn  Sinyd, 
Bir  ez-Zayt,  'Abud,  Mukhmas.  Page  213. 

CHAPTER  XI 

The  village  in  its  external  relations.  Attitude  of  villagers  to  the  city 
and  city  people,  now  and  formerly.  Administration  of  the  village  from 
the  city.  The  peasant  and  the  government,  taxes,  private  and  official 
settlement  of  disputes.  Postal  service,  native  and  foreign,  telegraph. 
Passage  of  news  and  rumor.  Travel,  hindrances,  quarantines,  coast- 
wise shipping,  railway  travel,  peasant  travel,  pilgrimage  travel,  Russian 
pilgrims  and  the  peasantry,  other  European  pilgrim  parties,  tourists, 
traveling  passes,  transference  of  parcels,  baggage,  money,  banking, 
consular  service,  the  desire  of  the  natives  to  emigrate.  Page  225. 

CHAPTEB  XII 

Recent  events.  Effects  of  the  revolution.  Syrians  and  the  World 
War.  Syrian  ability.  Schools  and  education.  The  new  adminis- 
tration; certain  functions  and  methods.  Archaeological  interests. 
The  Arabian  problem.  Arabia  and  its  people,  social  customs,  politics, 
poets,  prophet  and  religion.  Page  242. 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGE 

A  SILOAM  WOMAN,  HER  INFANT  ON  HER  BACK  AND  PRODUCE  ON 

HER  HEAD Frontispiece 

RIVER  AUJA  OF  JAFFA 20 

DONKEY  AT  THE  THRESHING  FLOOR  WITH  A  LOAD  OF  WHEAT 28 

WILD  ANEMONES  FROM  WADY  EL-KELB 32 

A  VINEYARD  AT  RAM  ALLAH 36 

RAM  ALLAH  MAN  AND  A  BASKET  OF  OLIVES 38 

STRETCH  OF  OLIVE  TREES  ON  ROAD  TO  AYN  SINYA 38 

A  BEDAWY  HOUSE 42 

BEDAWY  DRINKING 42 

PEASANTS  ON  WAY  TO  MARKET  WITH  PRODUCE 44 

BEDAWIN  HORSEMAN 44 

WOMAN'S  WORK 48 

BRINGING  HOME  THE  BRIDAL  TROUSSEAU 54 

GIRLS  AT  PLAY  CARRYING  HEADLOADS  OF  GRASS  IN  IMITATION  OP 

THE  WOMEN 54 

WASHING  A  CHILD 58 

A  SWADDLED  INFANT 58 

THREE  KINDS  OF  HOUSES — MUD,  DRY-STONE,  STONE- AND-MORTAR  68 

HOUSEHOLD  UTENSILS 76 

BREAD-MAKING  UTENSILS 82 

IN  A  DOORYARD.  WOMEN  CLEANING  WHEAT 94 

ON  TOP  OF  AN  OVEN.  WOMEN  SIFTING  WHEAT 94 

POTTERY 114 

ON  THE  WAY  TO  JERUSALEM.  FOR  THE  NEBY  MUSA  PROCESSION.  126 
A  NEBY  MUSA  CONTINGENT  ARRIVING  WITHIN  THE  JAFFA  GATE, 

JERUSALEM 126 

FARMING  IMPLEMENTS 130 

A  SOWER 132 

CHILDREN  GLEANING 132 

THRESHING 140 

A  THRESHING  SCENE  IN  THE  OLD  POOL  AT  BETHEL 140 

1.  HAND  SPINNING  2.  REELING  3.  STRAIGHTENING  THREADS 

FOR  LOOM 142 

VARIOUS  ARTICLES  MADE  OF  SKIN:  BOTTLES,  BAGS,  POUCHES  AND 

BUCKETS 150 

A  MARKET  SCENE:  PEASANTRY  NEAR  DAVID'S  TOWER,  JERUSALEM  154 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


WOMEN  AT  THP  SPRING 164 

FOUNTAIN  AT  NAZARETH 164 

A  HOUSE-ROOFING  BEE  (ET  TAYYIBEH) 172 

A  RAM  ALLAH  MATRON  AT  HER  OWN  DOOR 187 

CAMEL  CARRYING  A  ROPE  NET  FILLED  WITH  CLAY  JARS 194 

RAM  ALLAH,  AS  ENTERED  BY  THE  SINUOUS,  WALLED  LANE  FROM 

THE  EAST 194 

LITTLE  GIRLS  OP  THE  VILLAGE 196 

THE  VILLAGE  OP  RAM  ALLAH  AND  OUTLYING  VINEYARDS 204 

EL-BIREH  (FROM  THE  SOUTH) 212 

VINEYARDS  AND  STONE  WATCH  TOWERS 220 

PEASANT  PLOWING 220 

PRIMITIVE  RUG  WEAVING  (BEDAWIN)  230 

STRAW  MAT  AND  BASKET  MAKING  :  JIFNA  WOMAN 230 


The    PEASANTRY    of 

PALESTINE 


CHAPTER  I 

INTRODUCTORY.      THE     COUNTRY     OF     WESTERN     PALESTINE. 
GENERAL   FEATURES 

THIS  little  book  will  make  no  attempt  to  tell  all 
that  could  be  said  of  its  subject,  but  we  hope  that 
its  selection  of  things  to  tell  will  be  gratifying  to 
you.  Our  wish  is  that  not  many  of  its  pages  may  be 
condemned  as  dry,  but  that  most  of  them  may  have  in- 
terest and  refreshment.  If  sometime  when  you  are  tired 
you  can  sit  down  and  be  pleased  with  some  of  these 
pages,  here  or  there,  you  will  know  a  little  of  how  the 
trudging  peasant  of  the  village  feels  as,  going  over  hill 
after  hill,  from  each  top  he  gazes  off  towards  the  west  and 
sees  the  evening  mists  thickening  and  looking  like  good, 
cool  mountains  in  the  sea.  It  is  pleasant  to  see  the  face  of 
the  native  light  up  as  he  catches  sight  of  the  clouds  heavy 
with  blessings  of  moisture.  Perhaps  fierce  sirocco  days  have 
followed  one  another  for  some  time,  longer  than  usual.  Such 
days  are  usually  looked  for  in  trios  at  least,  but  often  they 
hold  for  a  longer  time.  Their  peculiarly  enervating  heat  is 
very  trying,  and  when  they  have  passed  one  welcomes 
eagerly  an  evening  that  brings  the  heavy  mist.  This  an- 
nounces that  the  succession  of  hot  days  is  broken  and  that 
some  days  of  respite  are  coming.  The  welcome  moisture 
blesses  the  vineyards,  the  fig  orchards,  the  tomatoes, 
squashes  and  melons,  and  it  is  sure  to  bring  out  ejaculations 
of  blessing  from  the  fervent  peasant,  praising  the  Father  of 
all,  whose  favoring  mercy  he  feels. 

11 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

Look  out  on  a  morning  early  and  you  will  see  the  mists  * 
scudding,  drifting,  veiling  and  dissevering  like  masses  of 
gauze,  like  streamers  of  truant  hair.  Perhaps  some  near 
mountain  may  be  cut  off  from  the  little  hill  half-way  down 
by  a  moat  filled  with  billowing  fog.  Soon  the  sun  cuts  it 
and  scatters  it  away  and  the  hot,  dry  day  sets  in.  The  roads 
and  rocks  are  powdered  with  lime  dust,  the  somber  morning 
tones  on  the  hills  are  touched  with  whitening  brightness. 
Here  and  there  is  the  dusty  gray  of  an  olive-orchard  or  the 
bright  green  of  vineyards.  Overhead,  the  brightest  blue  is 
set  with  one  yellow  gem  of  fire  that  creeps  up  and  up  until 
noon,  and  then  the  toiling  peasantry,  who  have  watched  this 
timepiece  of  the  heavens,  sit  down  in  the  nearest  shade  to 
eat  their  food  and  chat.  That  done,  they  roll  over  for  the 
luxury  of  a  nap  and  forget  a  hot,  dry  hour  in  a  healthy  doze. 
The  click  of  the  chisel  in  the  quarry  ceases,  the  hoe  is  cast 
aside,  the  driver  is  lying  on  his  face,  fast  asleep,  while  the 
donkey  nibbles  and  rolls  his  load-sore  back  deliciously  in 
the  dust.  The  camel  sits  like  a  salamander,  apparently 
minding  no  change  of  weather.  Little  birds  pant  for  breath. 
All  is  very  still  and  hot. 

But  work-time  comes  again  before  the  heat  goes,  and  the 
workmen  half  sit  up,  looking  around,  perhaps  playfully 
tossing  a  stick  or  clod  on  the  head  of  a  lazier  comrade.  The 
work-saddles  are  roped  on  the  backs  of  the  animals.  The 
camel,  long  habituated  to  complaining,  whether  made  to 
kneel  or  rise  again,  utters  grating  gutturals  from  his  long 
throat.  He  is  the  Oriental  striker,  objecting,  vocally,  at  least, 
to  every  new  demand  upon  him.  Well  waked,  the  country- 
side begins  to  be  busy  again  and  work  goes  on  until  sundown. 
As  the  afternoon  slips  into  the  evening  you  will  see  traveling 
peasants  hastening  to  make  their  villages.  The  hills  are 
touched  with  pinks  and  purples  that  shade  into  dark  blue. 
The  gray  owl  calls,  the  foxes  reconnoiter  the  fields,  the  village 

1Hoseal3:3. 
12 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

dogs  bark,  lights  straggle  out  from  the  settlements.  One 
may  hear  "the  song  of  a  watcher  in  a  vineyard  or  the  bang 
of  his  musket  as  he  shoots  at  a  dog  or  fox  meddling  with 
the  vines.  As  we  hastened  one  evening  through  a  village 
two  hours  distance  from  our  own,  the  people,  sitting  about 
the  doors  and  in  the  alleys,  seemed  astonished  and  urged 
us  to  stop  overnight,  not  understanding  our  preference  to 
travel  on  in  the  growing  dusk.  But  we  went  on,  passing 
possible  sites  for  Ai,  then  Bethel  and  Beeroth,  and  so  to 
our  own  Ram  Allah.  The  way  was  precarious  and  stony, 
with  only  the  starlight  to  help  us,  and  the  evening  was 
chilly. 

We  might  call  Palestine,  even  the  western  part  of  it,  which 
is  more  familiar  to  us,  a  world  in  little,  so  much  has  been 
packed  into  this  little  space  between  the  Jordan  and  the 
Mediterranean.  Sometimes  it  has  been  a  kingdom  and  some- 
times kingdoms.  As  a  province  or  provinces  it  has  acknowl- 
edged masters  on  the  south,  east,  north  and  west. 

Far  back  in  time  the  country  was  the  range  of  numerous 
unruly  tribes.  To-day  it  contains  several  districts  within 
the  Asiatic  holdings  of  the  Turkish  Empire.  As  one  looks 
inland  from  the  Mediterranean  on  the  Judean  country,  first 
comes  the  straight  unindented  coast  line  of  sand,  then  a 
fertile  strip  of  land  parallel  to  it  in  which  the  orange  and 
the  grains  flourish.  Next  comes  the  secondary  ridge  of 
Judean  hills;  then  its  primary  ridge  of  mountains.  These 
latter  are  thirty-five  miles  from  the  sea  and  three  fifths  of  a 
mile  above  its  level.  Now,  as  we  stand  on  the  mountain 
range,  we  have  only  twenty  miles  between  us  and  the  country 
of  the  Dead  Sea,  but  a  rapid  fall  in  levels  which,  in  so  short 
a  distance,  makes  the  sand-hills  seem  to  drop  down  and 
away  from  us  in  a  precipitous  stairway  to  one  of  the  lowest 
spots  on  earth,  the  basin  in  which  the  Jordan  River  and  the 
Dead  Sea  lie,  the  so-called  Ghor.  This  depression  is  a 
quarter  of  a  mile  below  sea-level  and  hence  three  quarters 

13 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

of  a  mile  below  the  high  country  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Jerusalem. 

Western  Palestine  is  a  limestone  country  that  is,  geo- 
logically speaking,  new.  Faulting,  erosion  and  earthquake 
as  well  have  been  hard  at  work  in  comparatively  recent 
geological  times  to  make  a  most  diversified  surface  in  a  land 
of  short  distances.  Its  rocks  are  peppered  with  nodules  of 
flint.  The  weather  wear  on  the  country  rocks  of  some 
districts  allows  the  flint  nodules  to  drop  out,  thus  leaving  a 
peculiar  worm-eaten  look  in  the  stones  and  cliffs.  In  other 
localities  the  cherty  material  runs  in  ribbon-like  bands 
within  the  limestone.  The  lime  rock  is  often  beautified  by 
geode-like  recesses  of  lime  crystal,  and  the  slabs  of  lamellar 
stone  so  much  used  for  flooring,  window-seats  and  roofing 
are  frequently  penciled  with  exquisite  dendritic  markings. 
Often  the  face  of  cleavage  between  blocks  of  building 
material  is  glazed  with  a  native  pink.  There  are  a  few 
houses  in  the  villages  whose  external  walls  are  constructed 
of  regular  blocks  so  arranged  as  to  alternate  in  a  manner 
resembling  checkerwork  of  pink  and  white  squares. 

One  thought  that  may  occur  to  an  American  or  European 
as  he  looks  at  the  numerous  hills  and  mountains  up  and 
down  the  middle  and  back  of  Western  Palestine  is  that  never 
before  has  he  had  such  a  fine  opportunity  to  see  the  shapes 
of  hills  and  valleys.  For  at  home  he  seldom  sees  the  whole, 
real  shape  of  a  hill  or  a  mountain,  so  covered  is  it  with  trees 
or  smaller  growth.  But  here  there  is  very  little  clothing 
on  the  hills.  Their  knobs  and  shoulders,  cliffs  and  ribs,  are 
almost  as  naked  of  trees  as  the  blue  skies  above  them.  The 
rock  layers  stand  out  at  the  worn  edges  very  plainly.  Some 
hills  are  banded  round  and  round  horizontally  with  successive 
layers  of  rock.  Others  are  made  up  of  layers  slightly  in- 
clined, and  some  look  like  giant  clam-shells  set  down  on  the 
land.  In  yet  other  hills  the  twistings  and  heavings  have 
given  the  sedimentary  layers  a  vertical  position  up  and 

14 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

down  over  the  mountains,  as  if  they  had  been  tipped  over. 
These  bands  of  rock  are  usually  of  limestone  interspersed 
with  chunks  of  chert.  Ordinarily  the  tops  of  the  hills  assume 
a  long,  sloping,  rounded  shape  because  of  the  soft  nature 
of  the  rock  and  the  wearing  power  of  the  deluging  rains. 

All  around  the  highland  country  of  Western  Palestine  are 
mellow  plains  and  fertile  valleys.  Up  and  down  the  western 
border  between  the  highlands  and  the  Mediterranean  is  the 
Maritime  Plain,  from  eight  to  fifteen  miles  wide.  Along  the 
eastern  edge  is  the  great  depression  of  the  Ghor,  the  low 
fertile  basin  that  separates  Western  from  Eastern  Palestine 
and  provides  a  bed. for  the  plunging  current  of  the  Jordan 
and  a  sink  for  the  Dead  Sea.  These  two  fertile  strips  are 
barely  connected  toward  the  north  by  an  arm  of  the  Ghor, 
formerly  called  the  Valley  of  Jezreel,  that  reaches  to  the 
site  of  ancient  Jezreel,  and  a  succession  of  plains  formerly 
called  the  Plain  of  Esdraelon,  that  touch  the  Maritime  Plain 
around  the  nose  of  Carmel.  The  highland  country  is  pierced 
by  many  a  cut  called,  in  the  language  of  the  country,  wdd, 
or  ivddy,  the  equivalent  ordinarily  of  our  valley,  though  the 
climate  of  Palestine  is  such  as  to  make  it  almost  always  the 
case  that  a  wady  is  a  brook  in  the  rainy  weather  of  winter 
and  a  dry  gully  during  the  rest  of  the  year.1  Some  of  these 
wadys  are  of  considerable  breadth  and  offer  arable  lands; 
others  are  narrow,  deep  gorges.  Into  some  of  these  gorges 
the  debris  from  the  hillsides  has  tumbled  so  as  to  make  it 
impossible  to  use  the  valley  bed  as  a  road  even  in  dry 
weather. 

Many  of  the  passes  mentioned  in  the  literature  of  Palestine 
are  really  highland  paths.  Valleys  must  often  be  avoided 
as  impassable  during  the  winter  rains  and  as  stiflingly  hot 
in  summer.  Invading  armies  would  seldom  risk  using  nar- 
row valleys  for  their  approach,  as  they  would  be  easily 
assailable  from  the  hillsides. 

'1  Kings  17: 7;  Job  6:  15,17. 
15 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

The  limestone  is  full  of  holes  and  caves  varying  in  size 
from  a  pocket  to  a  palace.  The  caves  may  be  near  the 
surface  or  far  in  the  secret  places  of  the  deep-chested 
mountains.  They  make  reservoirs  for  the  catching  of  the 
rain  from  the  surface  and  hold  it  through  the  long  dry 
season,  giving  some  of  it  in  springs  l  and  probably  losing 
floods  of  it  in  lower  and  lower  caverns.  Sometimes  the 
caves  are  like  small  rooms,2  let  into  the  sides  of  the  cliffs, 
as  at  'Ayn  Fara  in  the  Wady  Fara,  a  few  hours  northeast 
of  Jerusalem,  where  there  is  a  suite  of  four  connecting  rooms 
in  the  side  wall  of  the  valley,  thirty  feet  above  the  path. 
In  front  of  the  rooms  is  a  narrow  ledge  overhanging  the 
path,  and  up  through  this  natural  platform  is  a  manhole 
which  offers  the  one  way  of  access  from  below.  All  up  and 
down  this  wady  are  caves,  some  having  been  improved, 
probably  for  purposes  of  hermit  dwelling.  In  Wady  es- 
Suwaynit,  that  is,  the  valley  of  Michmash,  there  are  a  good 
many  such  cliff  dwellings8  which  seem  to  be  approach- 
able only  by  a  rope  let  down  from  the  top  of  the  precipice 
above.  All  through  the  wild  gorges  of  the  country  one  is  apt 
to  come  upon  these  caves  with  signs  of  use  in  some  previous 
age  by  troglodytes  and  hermits.  When  possible  they  are 
now  used  as  goat-pens,  and  thus  offer  unclean  but  dry 
quarters  to  any  one  caught  in  a  rain.  At  the  cave  near 
Kharaytun  the  entrance  is  difficult  to  reach,  up  in  the  side 
of  a  precipitous  mountain.  It  is  a  narrow  passage  leading 
to  a  large,  high,  vaulted  room,  a  sort  of  natural  cathedral, 
with  a  large  side  chamber.  Thence  one  may  go  through  a 
low,  tortuous  passage  to  other  smaller  rooms  as  far  as  most 
of  the  adventurous  care  to  go,  the  natives  say  to  Hebron, 
but  the  guide-books,  something  over  five  hundred  feet. 
About  Jeba',  east  of  er-R&m,  the  ground  sounds  hollow  under 
foot  because  of  caves  to  which  one  may  descend,  in  some 

1  Psalm  104  : 10.  »1  Kings  18  :  4;  19  :  9, 13;  Judges  6:2. 

8 1  Sam.  13:5,6;  14:11,22. 

16 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

cases  by  cut  stairs,  to  find  that  the  caves  have  been  enlarged 
and  cemented.  About  two  thirds  of  the  way  from  el-Bireh 
to  Baytin,  on  the  left  of  the  path,  is  a  cave  which  has  been 
made  to  do  service  as  a  catch-basin  for  the  water  from  the 
spring  above.  The  mouth  of  the  spring  has  been  enlarged 
artificially  and  connected  by  a  rock-cut  channel  with  the 
cave.  This  channel  has  little  grooves  branching  from  it  and 
there  seem  to  be  here  the  conveniences  of  an  ancient  launder- 
ing or  fulling  place.  In  the  cave  are  two  supporting  columns 
cut  from  the  rock.  The  interior  is  well  adorned  to-day  with 
a  pretty  growth  of  delicate  maidenhair  ferns. 

There  are  many  caves  in  the  hillsides  of  what  is  called  the 
Samson  Country,1  through  which  the  railway  from  Jaffa  to 
Jerusalem  passes.  In  and  about  Jerusalem  are  caves  the 
discussion  of  which  does  not  belong  here,  though  they  can 
hardly  have  failed,  in  their  long  association  with  the  history 
of  that  city,  of  having  much  significant  connection  with  the 
political  and  religious  history  of  the  people  of  the  country. 
Such  are  the  caves  about  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulcher, 
the  little  one  under  the  great  rock  beneath  the  Dome 
of  the  Rock,  the  artificially  enlarged  caves  on  the  south 
side  of  the  Valley  of  Hinnom,  the  huge  cave  of  Jeremiah, 
north  of  the  city,  under  the  hill  where  the  Moslems  have 
a  cemetery,  not  to  mention  its  counterpart  across  the  road 
and  under  the  city,  called  Solomon's  Quarry  or  the  Cotton 
Grotto. 

Near  the  village  of  Kubab,  but  nearer  the  tiny  village  of 
Abu  Shusheh,  is  a  large  cave  now  used  as  a  sheep  and  goat 
pen.  It  is  called  by  the  neighboring  Moslems  Noah's  Cave. 
The  top  of  it  has  evidently  at  some  time  fallen  in,  thus  dimin- 
ishing its  size,  but  giving  it  an  immense  mouth,  quite  con- 
spicuous all  about  the  neighboring  country  to  the  north. 
The  peasantry,  in  their  double  desire  to  account  for  it  and 
also  to  say  something  against  the  Jews,  tell  this  story  about 

1  Judges  13-15. 
17 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

the  cave.  They  say  that  Noah  was  making  war  against  the 
Jews  who,  being  hard  pressed,  ran  into  this  cave  for  shelter. 
Thereupon  Noah  brought  up  his  heavy  guns  and  bombarded 
the  cave  with  such  effect  as  to  crush  in  the  top,  which  fell 
on  the  Jews,  killing  them  all. 

In  connection  with  caves  the  peasants  tell  certain  stories 
of  hyenas.  To  the  peasant  any  story  that  has  to  do  with 
these  creatures  is  gruesome.  The  hyena,  they  say,  will 
accost  a  lone  pedestrian,  rub  up  against  him  and  cast  a 
spell  over  him  until,  in  a  dazed  way,  the  man  follows  the 
animal  to  its  cave,  where  the  hyena  will  despatch  him.  The 
tale  is  continued  to  describe  how  the  hyena  is  captured. 
They  say  that  a  man  strips  himself  naked  and  crawls  into 
the  cave  of  the  hyena,  carrying  one  end  of  a  rope  which  is 
held  by  his  companions  outside.  Once  inside,  his  condition 
deceives  the  hyena,  as  does  also  a  cajoling  tone  which  he 
uses  until  the  creature,  quite  unsuspecting,  begins  to  fawn 
and  roll  over.  The  man  at  once  secures  a  leg  of  the  hyena 
with  his  rope,  whereupon  the  men  outside  draw  out  the 
beast  and  kill  it  with  their  clubs. 

New  graves  are  usually  loaded  with  heavy  stones  and 
watched  at  night  to  prevent  the  hyenas  from  exhuming  the 
dead  bodies. 

As  the  rock  of  the  country  is  of  a  quickly  dissolving  kind, 
the  torrential  force  of  the  winter  rains  greatly  facilitates 
soil-making.  The  ground  is  strewn  with  loose  stones,  in 
some  places  so  thickly  that  the  soil  cannot  be  seen  a  few 
rods  away.  Soil  is  carried  rapidly  about,  so  that  where 
there  are  no  terraces  or  pockets  to  catch  it  the  shelving  rock 
is  soon  denuded  and  the  only  deep  earth  is  found  in  the 
valleys  or  hollow  plains. 

The  Jordan  and  the  "Auja"  (Crooked)  are  the  two  largest 
rivers  of  Palestine;  Huleh  (Merom),  Tiberias  (Galilee)  and 
Bahret  Lut  (the  Dead  Sea),  its  three  lakes.  There  are  many 
streams,  brooks  and  winter  ponds  that  disappear  with  the 

is 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

rainy  season.  In  a  few  deep-cut  beds,  where  strong  springs 
supply  the  brooks,  water  flows  in  a  current  all  the  year. 

The  watershed  of  Western  Palestine  is  considerably  nearer 
to  the  Jordan  than  to  the  Mediterranean,  being  about  thirty- 
five  or  forty  miles  from  the  Sea,  but  scarcely  more  than 
twenty  miles  on  the  average  from  the  river.  The  valley 
courses  of  the  streams  generally  take  a  southeasterly  direction 
from  the  watershed  to  the  Jordan  basin,  and  a  northwesterly 
direction  towards  the  Mediterranean  Sea.  Those  on  the  east 
are  narrower  and  more  precipitous,  since  they  have  on  that 
side  of  the  country  the  shorter  distance  and  the  more 
remarkable  fall  in  levels. 

Fertility  and  population  have  generally  favored  the  wes- 
tern side  of  the  watershed,  with  some  notable  exceptions. 
This  western  slope  is  flanked  by  the  low-lying  hills  of  the 
Shephelah  and  comes  gradually  down  to  the  Maritime  Plain. 
The  hills  and  plain  on  this  side  have  very  great  historical 
interest  and  have  formed  the  bridge  of  the  civilizations  to 
the  north  and  to  the  south  of  Palestine.  At  the  present 
time,  when  travel  comes  by  sea  from  the  Western  world, 
this  country  is  a  threshold  to  the  shrines  and  ancient  sites 
of  Syria  and  the  East. 

The  only  ponds  in  the  country  are  the  winter  ponds  called 
by  the  native  name,  balua.  These  are  formed  by  the  winter 
rains.  They  stand  for  about  five  months  in  low  places,  and 
then  disappear  until  the  next  rainy  season.1  Robinson,  in 
1838,  passed  by  one  of  these  on  his  way  from  el-Bireh  to 
Jifna.  As  his  journey  that  way  was  on  June  13,  the  pond 
was  then  dry.  But  this  same  pond  may  now  be  seen  every 
winter  and  spring  full  of  water.  The  new  carriage  road  cuts 
the  eastern  end  of  it  at  a  point  a  little  over  a  mile  north 
of  el-Bireh.  Another  of  these  ponds  may  be  seen  just  under 
the  village  of  Baytunyeh,  towards  Ram  Allah.  Were  it  not 
for  such  short-lived  ponds  many  of  the  country  people  would 

llsa.  35:7;  41:18;  42:15. 

19 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

have  little  idea  of  any  body  of  water  larger  than  a  rain- 
water cistern.  The  Dead  Sea  may  be  seen  from  the  high 
hills  to  the  east  of  these  ponds  and  the  Mediterranean  from 
those  to  the  west,  but  only  a  small  proportion  of  the  peas- 
antry ever  get  to  see  either  one  of  them.  A  distant  view 
gives  the  unexperienced  no  adequate  notion  of  their  size. 
People  living  in  Jaffa,  on  the  sea,  have  been  known  to  poke 
fun  at  the  upland  folk  and  bewilder  them  with  yarns  about 
the  sea.  One  story  that  they  impose  on  the  credulous 
countryman  is  that  every  night,  at  dark,  a  cover  is  put  over 
the  sea,  as  one  would  cover  over  a  jar  of  water,  or  a  bowl  of 
dough.  One  man,  on  reaching  Jaffa  late  in  the  afternoon 
for  his  first  visit,  hastened  down  to  the  beach  in  order  to  see 
the  water  before  the  cover  should  be  put  on  for  the  night. 
Perhaps  the  best  known  winter  ponds  are  in  the  extensive 
sunken  meadows  of  the  Plain  of  Esdraelon,  athwart  the  way 
from  Jenin  to  Nazareth. 

The  springs  of  Palestine  are  its  eyes,  as  the  Arabs  put  it, 
and  when  they  are  sparkling  with  life  the  whole  face  of  the 
country  lights  up  with  a  wholesome  expression.1  In  places 
where  the  springs  are  remote  from  the  present  settlements, 
and  now  used  only  for  the  flocks  or  by  travelers,  there  are 
often  to  be  seen  remains  of  former  buildings.  Sometimes 
villas  or  even  villages  maybe  traced;  old  aqueducts  also,  and 
ruined  reservoirs,  showing  how  great  pains  were  once  taken 
to  utilize  the  water  supply.  At  'Ayn  Fara  is  a  copious  supply 
of  water  forming  one  of  the  few  perennial  brooks.  In  its 
deeper  pools  the  herdsmen  water  and  wash  their  flocks.2 
There  is  a  very  feeble  attempt  at  gardening  in  the  vicinity, 
but  for  the  most  part  the  precious  treasure  flows  away 
unused.  The  valley  sides  show  ancient  masonry  belonging 
to  more  thrifty  times.  On  the  hill  'Atara,  a  mile  south  of 
el-Bireh,  are  ruined  reservoirs  to  which  the  waters  of  the 
spring  now  called  'Ayn  en-Nusbeh  were  carried  by  stone 

*C/.  Joshua  15: 19.  2  Song  4:  2;  6:6. 

20 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

conduits,  of  which  only  small  pieces  remain.  So  may  similar 
indications  be  seen  at  'Ayn  Soba,  at  'Ayn  Jeriyut,  €Ayn 
Kefriyeh,  all  of  which  are  west  of  R&m  All&h.  Present-day 
villages  are  often  a  considerable  distance  from  the  spring 
on  which  they  depend  for  drinking  water.  Many  large 
places  are  provided  with  but  one  spring.  Nazareth  and 
Jerusalem  are  thus  limited  to  one  good  spring  each.  Around 
the  Sea  of  Galilee  and  the  Dead  Sea  are  warm,  even  hot, 
springs  once  much  prized  as  watering-places.  They  are 
generally  sulphurous  in  character.  Those  at  Tiberias,  on  the 
Sea  of  Galilee,  are  used  now  as  baths. 

Of  wells  Palestine  has  but  few.  Some  of  those  mentioned 
in  the  Bible  still  remain,  though  not  all  are  in  use.1  It 
comes  more  naturally  to  the  mind  of  an  Oriental  to  devote 
the  labor  and  expense  that  it  would  take  to  dig  a  well  to  the 
construction  of  something  in  which  to  catch  a  portion  of  the 
rainfall.  It  is  quite  essential  to  the  prosperity  of  Palestine 
that  its  water  resources  be  husbanded  through  the  long  dry 
season.2  As  has  been  suggested,  there  is  plenty  of  evidence 
that  formerly  this  was  done  in  a  very  painstaking  manner, 
but  at  the  present  time  far  less  care  is  given  to  this  very 
important  matter.  Numerous  cisterns  and  reservoirs  were 
made  to  catch  rain-water  and  the  overflow  of  the  fountains. 
The  large  number  of  these  ancient  devices  for  saving  water, 
in  contrast  with  the  few  made  and  used  in  these  days,  offers 
one  basis  for  a  comparison  of  the  condition  of  the  country 
in  old  and  new  Palestine.  Rain-water  was  caught  in 
cemented  pits  not  very  unlike  huge  pear-shaped  bottles. 
Such  water  was  used  for  all  household  purposes  where 
spring  water  failed;  also  for  watering  the  animals.  It  was 
drawn  up  as  from  a  well.  Occasionally  these  old  cemented 
cisterns  are  still  in  use.  But  all  through  the  country  there 
are  vast  numbers  of  them  that  are  no  longer  used.  All 
about  Jerusalem,  especially  north  of  the  city,  among  the 

1  John  4:  6.  2  C/.  Eccles.  2:  6. 

21 


THE       PEASANTRY       OF       PALESTINE 

olives,  they  may  be  seen;  also  about  the  district  of  Ram 
Allah,  at  Teku'a  and  at  Janyeh. 

The  overflow  of  springs  was  provided  for  by  more  pre- 
tentious structures,  —  the  great  rectangular  box  pools  built 
of  solid  masonry.  The  most  noteworthy  of  these  reservoirs 
are  the  so-called  Pools  of  Solomon,  three  in  number,  south 
of  Bethlehem,  by  the  road  that  leads  to  Hebron.  These 
three  immense  reservoirs,  each  of  which,  when  full,  would 
float  a  battleship,  have  a  combined  capacity  of  over  forty 
million  gallons.  Formerly  stone  aqueducts  conveyed  the 
waters  to  Jerusalem.  Remains  of  these  are  still  to  be  seen. 
The  water  is  conveyed  now  through  iron  pipes,  fully  eight 
miles,  to  the  city.  Jerusalem  itself  has  the  famous  Pool  of 
Siloam,1  the  Sultan's  Pool  and  the  Pool  of  Mamilla.  The 
last  one  mentioned  feeds  a  large  reservoir  within  the  city 
walls,  sometimes  called  the  Patriarch's  Pool  and  sometimes 
Hezekiah's  Pool.2  At  Bethel  (Baytin)  the  spring  is  sur- 
rounded by  an  old  reservoir  larger  than  the  Pool  of  Mamilla. 
It  is  now  dry  and  its  bottom  is  used  as  a  threshing-floor. 
And  so  all  about  the  country  are  found  the  remains  of 
costly  works  designed  for  the  saving  and  proper  use  of  the 
water  supply.  With  such  means  of  irrigation  the  produc- 
tiveness of  the  country  must  have  been  much  greater  than 
at  the  present  day. 

Sometimes,  in  speaking  of  the  seasons  in  Palestine,  we  say 
summer  and  winter,3  and  sometimes  we  mention  the  four 
seasons.  Perhaps  if  we  should  say  wet  season  and  dry 
season  it  would  be  less  misleading,  but  even  then  one  would 
have  to  bear  in  mind  that  the  wet  season  is  not  a  time  of 
general  downpour  but  simply  the  season  in  which  the  rains 
of  the  year  come. 

The  wet  season,  or  winter,4  as  it  is  more  generally  called, 
ought  to  provide,  for  the  welfare  of  the  country,  from  twenty- 
five  to  thirty  inches  of  rainfall  in  the  highlands.  Sometimes 

1  John  9:  7.         2  2  Kings  20:  20.         3  Gen.  8:22.         4  Song  2:  11. 

22 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

it  is  as  low  as  sixteen  inches,  and  it  occasionally  exceeds 
thirty-five  or  even  forty  inches.  Roughly  speaking,  the 
wet  season  claims  the  five  months,  November  to  March. 
In  a  very  wet  winter,  perhaps,  the  rains  will  reach  over  a 
period  of  nearly  six  months,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
rainy  period  may  shrink  to  four.  The  most  frequent  and 
heavy  falls  of  rain  in  an  ordinary  season  are  looked  for  near 
the  beginning  and  at  the  close  of  the  wet  season.  Many 
pleasant  days,1  and  even  some  entire  weeks  of  rainless 
weather,  may  be  expected  during  this  wet  season.  Now  and 
then  there  may  be  a  winter  during  which  the  water  will  be 
glazed  over  in  the  puddles  a  few  times,  or  there  may  be 
several  falls  of  snow.2  Driving,  raw,  chilling  rains  and 
winds  may  prevail  for  a  week  at  a  time,  or  longer,  and  be 
less  easy  to  bear  than  the  stronger  cold  of  a  more  northerly 
climate.3 

The  dry  season  is  more  in  keeping  with  its  name  throughout 
its  control  of  nearly  seven  months,  although  rain  in  May  has 
been  experienced  and  a  slip  in  one  of  the  summer  months 
is  not  unknown.  At  the  end  of  September  or  at  the  begin- 
ning of  October  a  slight  shower  is  expected.  One  scarcely 
expects  rain,  however,  until  well  into  November.  Despite 
the  very  hot  days  in  the  dry  summer  season,  the  nights  in 
the  Palestine  highlands  are  generally  cool.  The  Syrian  sun 
is  a  synonym  for  piercing,  intense  heat,  and  foreigners  are 
more  apt  to  be  thoughtless  of  its  power  than  to  overdo 
caution.  During  the  midsummer  months  it  is  hard  to  take 
photographs  except  very  early  or  very  late,  or  with  very 
slow-acting  lenses  and  plates.  Then,  too,  the  poorest  light 
for  distant  views  may  be  in  summer,  when  the  intense  heat 
fills  the  air  with  a  haze.  Those  who  have  seen  the  dead, 
brown  look  that  comes  on  a  district  of  country  which  has 
suffered  an  unusual  period  of  drought  may  partly  imagine 
the  appearance  of  Palestine  after  a  six  months'  absence  of 

X2  Sam.  23:4.      22  Sam.  23:20.      3Matt.  24:  20;  Mark  13:  18. 

23 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

rain  unrelieved  except  for  the  night-mists  that  may  prevail 
during  some  of  that  time. 

After  the  drought  the  peasant,  like  the  country,  is  pant- 
ingly  ready  for  the  first  rains  of  the  autumn.  He  never 
hesitates  to  choose  between  rain  and  sunshine.  It  is  always 
the  former.  Even  if  rain  comes  in  destructive  abundance 
he  has  only  to  think  of  the  terrors  of  a  scanty  rainfall  to 
repress  all  complaints.  As  we  say  in  a  complimentary  way 
to  a  guest,  "  You  have  brought  pleasant  weather,"  so  the 
Syrian  will  say,  "  Your  foot  is  green/'  that  is,  "  Your  coming 
is  accompanied  by  the  benedictions  of  rain."  Rains  usually 
begin  with  an  appearance  of  reluctance,1  but  sometime  in 
November  or  December  they  ought  to  come  down  heavily 
for  most  of  a  fortnight.  Sometimes  there  are  several  weeks 
of  delightfully  balmy  weather  between  the  drenching  rains. 
During  an  unusually  dry  winter,  when  the  rainfall  is  below 
twenty  inches,  much  of  the  winter  will  be  pleasant,  at  the 
expense  of  the  crops  and  of  the  general  welfare.  At  such 
times  the  price  of  wheat  goes  up  and  the  scantily  supplied 
cisterns  give  no  promise  of  holding  out  through  the  succeed- 
ing summer.  Springs  dry  down  until  the  best  of  them  offer 
but  a  tiny  stream,  and  hours  must  be  spent  at  some  of  the 
fountains  to  fill  a  few  jars.  Much  of  January  is  apt  to  be 
rainy.  February  is  strange  and  fickle,  and  because  it  is 
especially  trying  to  the  vital  forces  of  the  aged  and  weak  is 
called  Old  Woman's  Month.  We  remember  a  very  pleasant 
February,  but  such  are  rare.  Honest  March  is  pretty  much 
its  boisterous  self  even  in  Palestine.  April  is  sunny  and  a 
charming  month  for  a  journey.  If  the  latter  rains  have  been 
delayed  they  may  come  even  in  April,  though  that  is  late. 
But  the  needed  rain  has  been  known  to  come  as  late  as 
middle  May,  with  unusually  cold  weather.  Then  the  peas- 
ants deemed  such  weather  portentous.2  The  latter  rains  — 
how  familiar  a  phrase  to  the  ears  of  many  who  may  not 

1  Cf.  1  Kings  18:  43-45.  2  Cf.  Prov.  26: 1. 

24 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

know  just  why  they  are  so  called!1  The  downpour  of 
November  or  December  washed  out  the  ground,  made  the 
heat  flee,  brought  back  health  to  the  succulent  plants, 
hastened  the  ripening  of  the  oranges  and  did  pretty  well  for 
the  cisterns,  but  this  latter  rain  is  the  key  of  the  situation. 
If  it  does  not  come,  wheat  may  sell  at  famine  prices  and  all 
the  pains  of  a  drought  take  hold  of  the  land.3  But  if  it 
only  will  come,  then  wealth  and  comfort  and  a  healthy 
summer.3 

Harvest  begins  in  the  springtime.  May  brings  the  yellow 
heads  on  the  grain,  and  it  must  be  gathered  or  soon  the 
summer  will  be  ended  and  the  harvest  past.4  The  grain  on 
the  hills  is  a  few  weeks  later  than  that  in  the  valleys  and 
plains.  A  little  donkey  coming  in  from  the  hill  terraces 
with  a  back-load  of  sheaves  looks  very  porcupiny.  The 
reaper  grasps  the  stalks  of  wheat  or  barley  with  one  hand 
and  cuts  a  long  straw  with  the  sickle  in  the  other  hand.  If 
he  is  hungry  he  starts  a  little  fire  and  holds  some  of  the 
wheat  heads  over  it  until  well  parched,  and  then,  rubbing 
off  the  husks  between  his  palms,  he  has  a  feast  of  the  new 
corn  of  the  land.  Thus  treated,  new  wheat  is  called  friky 
(rubbed). 

During  the  time  of  ripening  wheat  one  may  see  in  the 
fields,  close  to  the  ground,  the  heavy  green  leaves  and  yellow, 
shiny  apples  of  the  mandrake.5  The  natives  say  that  if  one 
eats  the  seeds  of  the  fruit  they  will  make  him  crazy.  The 
pulp  has  a  pleasant,  sweetish  flavor  and  an  agreeable  smell.' 

The  only  dreadful  wind  in  Palestine  is  the  east  wind,7 
because  it  blows  from  the  inland  desert  and  brings  excessive 
heat.  The  Arabic  word  for  east  is  sherk,  and  so  for  east  wind 

lCf.  Deut.  11:  14;  Job  29:  23;  Prov.  16:15;  Jer.  3:3;  5:24;  Hosea 
6:  3;  Joel  2:  23;  Zech.  10:  1;  James  5:  7. 

2Amos4:7.       3C/.  Psalm  65:  9-13.        4Jer.8:20.      5Gen.30:14. 

6  Song  7: 13. 

7  Jer.  18:  17;  Ezek.  17:  10;  19:  12;  Hosea  13:  15;  Jonah  4:  8. 

25 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

the  Arab  says  Sherk-iyeh.  From  this  we  get,  by  corruption, 
our  word  sirocco  (or  sherokkoh),  which  has  come  to  mean 
simply  a  hot,  enervating  blast  from  any  direction.  To  the 
Arab  it  is  that  wearing  east  wind  whose  coming  can  be  felt 
in  the  early  morning  before  a  breath  of  air  seems  stirring. 
There  is  a  certain  chemical  effect  on  the  nervous  system  of 
those  who  are  particularly  sensitive  to  the  blighting  touch  of 
the  Sherkiyeh.  Sometimes  this  wind  goes  away  suddenly 
after  a  short  day,  but  almost  always  its  coming  means  that 
it  will  run  three  days  at  least,  and  often  more.  There  is  a 
similar  wind  in  Egypt  known  to  residents  of  Cairo  as  the 
Khumsun  (fifty),  from  the  likelihood  that  it  will  remain 
fifty  days.  Such  an  unbroken  period  of  hot  winds  must  be 
exceedingly  rare  in  Palestine,  though  in  the  early  autumn 
of  1902  there  was  an  almost  continuous  Sherkiyeh  for  five 
weeks.  The  east  wind  of  winter  is  usually  as  disagreeably 
cold  as  its  relative  in  summer  is  hot  and  suffocating.  The 
only  good  thing  that  I  ever  knew  the  summer  sirocco  to  do 
was  to  cure  quickly  the  raisin  grapes  spread  on  the  ground 
in  September. 

The  west  wind  prevails  a  generous  share  of  the  time  and 
brings  mists  and  coolness  from  the  sea  during  the  summer. 
In  the  rainy  season  a  northwest  wind  brings  rain.1  The 
showers  are  often  presaged  by  high  winds  from  the  west 
and  north. 

September,  with  its  trying  siroccos,  is  often  hotter  than 
May.  The  pomegranates  ripen  in  this  month.  In  the 
country  districts  it  is  very  hard  to  get  goats'  milk  from  this 
time  onward  for  several  months.  The  flocks  are  too  far 
distant,  having  been  driven  away  to  find  pasture  and  water, 
and  a  little  later  on  the  milk  is  all  needed  for  the  young. 
During  these  days,  too,  it  is  not  thought  good  to  weaken  the 
goats  by  milking  them  any  more  than  is  quite  necessary. 
In  the  cities  milk  is  always  to  be  had. 

.  25:23. 
26 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

The  Greek  Feast  of  the  Cross,  about  the  end  of  September, 
is  looked  forward  to  as  marking  the  date  for  an  early  shower 
which  may  be  sufficiently  strong  to  cleanse  the  roofs.  After 
that  the  rain  may  come  in  a  month,  or  it  may  wait  two. 
The  people  notice  a  period  of  general  unhealthiness  just  pre- 
ceding the  autumn  rains.  Their  advent  usually  puts  an  end 
to  it,  bringing  healthier  conditions.  Sometime  along  in  the 
autumn  there  is  often  noticed  a  warm  spell  of  weather  which 
the  natives  call  Sayf  Saghir,  or  Sayf  Rummdn,  that  is,  Little 
Summer,  or  Pomegranate  Summer. 

The  cement  in  the  paved  roofs  cracks  under  the  fierce  heat 
of  summer  and  the  early  showers  help  to  discover  the  bad 
places  which  must  be  patched  before  the  heavy  winter  rains. 
In  the  case  of  earth-covered  roofs  the  first  shower  ought  to 
be  followed  by  a  good  rolling,  the  owners  going  over  and  over 
them  with  stone  rollers  rigged  with  wooden  handles  that 
creak  out  upon  the  clear  air  after  the  rain  as  they  work 
in  the  sockets.  From  the  peculiar  noise  thus  made  the 
Ram  Allah  people  have  a  local  name  of  zukzdkeh  for  the 
wooden  handles  of  these  stone  rollers.  In  the  northern  part 
of  the  country  the  name  naus  is  given  to  the  roller  handles 
for  a  similar  reason.  The  roofs  of  rolled  earth  can  be  kept 
very  tight.  The  covering  of  such  roofs  is  made  by  mixing 
sandy  soil  with  clay  and  with  the  finest  grade  of  chaff,  called 
mus,  from  the  threshing-floor.  On  old  earth  roofs  patches 
of  grass1  grow,  and  even  grain  has  been  seen  springing  up  in 
such  places. 

The  Syrian  peasant  divides  trees  into  classes  by  pairs. 
There  are  those  that  are  good  to  sit  under  and  those  that  are 
not.  Then  there  are  those  that  yield  food  and  those  that  do 
not.  Finally  there  are  those  that  are  holy,  and  therefore 
cannot  be  cut  for  charcoal  or  fuel,  and  those  that  are  not 
thus  tabooed. 

The  fig-tree  is  a  very  useful  food  producer  and  is  much 

1  Psalm  129:6. 
27 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

cultivated.  As  elsewhere  mentioned,  the  irritating  effect  of 
the  juices  of  the  broken  fig  branch  or  leaf  makes  it  less 
desirable  as  a  shade  tree,  but  because  of  its  dense  shade  it 
must  be  resorted  to  in  hot  weather.  The  olive-tree  gives 
rather  a  thin  shade.  The  carob-tree  is  a  fine  shade-giver. 
The  pine  is  a  favorite  in  this  respect,  though  few  pines  are 
left.  The  needly  cypress  shades  only  its  own  central  mast. 
One  might  as  well  snuggle  up  to  one's  own  shadow  for  pro- 
tection as  to  expect  it  from  a  cypress.  Pomegranate,  lemon 
and  orange-trees,  when  large  enough,  afford  shade,  but  they 
are  often  in  low,  miasmatic  places.  The  apple-tree  does  not 
do  well  except  in  parts  of  northern  Syria,  as  at  Zebedany, 
near  Damascus.  Some  fine  pear-trees  are  to  be  seen  above 
Bir  ez-Zayt,  though  as  a  rule  they  are  as  difficult  to  cultivate 
as  apple-trees.  At  'Ayn  Sinyd  are  flourishing  mulberry-trees 
of  great  size.  The  opinion  is  held  that  the  mulberry  and  the 
silk  culture  usually  associated  with  it  would  thrive  peculiarly 
well  in  Palestine.  Mount  Tabor  is  thinly  studded  with  trees 
except  on  the  southeast  side.  Mount  Carmel  also  has  yet 
some  remains  of  its  one-time  forest.  The  oak  is  found  in  a 
number  of  varieties,  but  is  a  great  temptation  to  the  charcoal 
burner,  as  it  affords  the  most  desirable  coal.  The  zinzilakt 
is  a  favorite  for  shade.  The  best  substitute  for  a  shade  tree 
in  the  land  is  a  large  rock,  the  cool  side  of  which  helps  one 
to  forget  the  burning  glare  of  the  noon  sun.1 

We  shall  have  to  call  winter  the  season  of  rain,  flowers  and 
travel.  Rain  ushers  in  the  winter  and  also  closes  it.  To 
the  middle  and  latter  part  of  that  season  is  due  the  bursting 
of  the  blossoms  and  a  push  that  sends  flowers  scattering  into 
the  first  months  of  the  dry  season.2  Travel  might  find  a 
better  time  than  much  of  the  winter,  but  then  it  is  cool  and 
if  it  rains,  why,  that  is  the  way  of  the  country,  and  this 
explanation  often  suffices. 

On  the  flowers  of  the  country  Dr.  Post's  book  offers  a 

1  Isa.  32:  2.  2Song  2:  12. 

28 


THE       PEASANTRY       OF       PALESTINE 

mine  of  information  for  those  skilled  enough  in  the  elements 
of  botany  to  make  use  of  it.  The  little  booklets  of  pressed 
specimens  offered  for  sale,  when  fresh,  give  an  excellent  idea 
of  the  variety  of  wild-flower  life  in  Palestine.  Mrs.  Hannah 
Zeller,  a  daughter  of  former  Bishop  Gobat  of  Jerusalem,  and 
the  wife  of  the  late  Rev.  John  Zeller  of  Nazareth  and  Jeru- 
salem, has  been  most  successful  in  reproducing  in  color  many 
of  the  flowers  of  Palestine.  Mrs.  Zeller's  book  of  color  plates, 
published  some  years  ago,  is  now  hard  to  secure.  She  still 
has  the  originals  and  an  even  larger  collection  which  awaits 
a  publisher.  Until  some  such  publication  in  color  is  at- 
tempted it  will  be  difficult  to  describe  in  writing  the  unusual 
splendor  and  variety  of  Palestine's  wild  flowers. 

The  flower  season  really  begins  in  what  we  should  call 
midautumn  with  the  little  lavender-colored  crocus  called  by 
the  natives  the  serdj  el-ghuleh  or  the  lamp  of  the  ghoul.  A 
better  name  for  it  would  be  serdj  esh-shuga  which  would 
mean  the  lamp  of  courage,  as  it  thrusts  its  dainty  head  up 
through  the  calcined  earth,  scarcely  waiting  for  a  drop  of 
moisture.  After  this  brave  little  color-bearer  of  Flora's 
troop  there  follow  the  narcissus,  heavily  sweet,  and  the 
cyclamen,  clinging  with  its  ample  bulb  in  rocky  cracks  as 
well  as  nestling  in  moist  beds.  But  of  all  the  flowers  the 
general  favorite  is  the  wild  anemone,  especially  in  its  rarer 
varieties,  white,  pink,  salmon,  blue  and  purple.  The  most 
common  is  the  red  anemone,  which  is  seen  everywhere  and 
sometimes  measures  four  or  five  inches  across.  Near  Dayr 
Diwan  we  once  rode  through  an  orchard  where  the  ground 
was  covered  with  a  cloud  of  these  red  ones,  so  voluptuous,  so 
prodigally  spread  in  a  carpet  of  crimson  beauty  that  one 
almost  held  one's  breath  at  the  charming  scene.  The  red 
ranunculus,  which  comes  later,  is  almost  as  large,  but  it 
looks  thick  and  heavy  in  comparison,  and  the  flaunting  red 
poppy,  which  comes  still  later,  looks  weak  and  characterless 
beside  the  anemone.  Even  the  wild  red  tulip  suffers  beside 

29 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

it.  The  colors  of  the  anemone  other  than  red  are  more  rare, 
but  usually  come  earlier.  About  Jaffa  they  appear  shortly 
after  Christmas.  White  ones  and  some  of  delicate  shades 
are  found  between  there  and  the  river  'Auja.  White  ones 
abound  near  Jifna,  and  are  found  east  of  Kubab  and  east 
of  Sejed  station.  Purple,  pink  and  blue  ones  are  plentiful 
in  Wady  el-Kelb  and  the  Khullet  el-€Adas  near  Ram  Allah. 
The  large  red  ranunculus  mentioned  is  found  in  large  patches 
between  Jericho  and  the  Dead  Sea  in  early  February.  Con- 
siderably later  there  is  an  acre-patch  east  of  Dayr  Diwan 
near  the  cliff  descent  towards  et-Tayyibeh.  The  red  tulip  is 
rarer  and  follows  soon.  The  red  poppy  is  very  abundant. 
It  has  the  delicacy  of  crepe.  It  is  scarcely  welcome  as  it  be- 
tokens the  close  of  the  flower  season.  But  one  may  for 
some  time  yet  gather  flowers  that  blaze  forth  as  brilliantly 
in  middle  spring  as  do  the  autumn  flowers  in  America:  the 
adonis,  gorse,  flax,  mustard,  bachelor's  button,  anise,  vetch, 
everlasting,  wild  mignonette  and  geranium.  In  the  vine- 
yards, about  pruning  time,  the  ground  is  covered  with  a  rich 
purple  glow.  The  sweet-scented  gorse  abounds  in  the  valleys 
towards  Tayyibeh.  The  vetches  come  in  many  colors,  and 
there  are  scores  of  other  scarcely  noticed  little  blossoms. 

When  the  season  has  been  especially  rainy,  as  may  occur 
about  every  fifth  or  sixth  year,  the  valleys  such  as  'Ayn  Fara 
will  be  knee-deep  with  the  abundant  flowering  herbs  and 
weeds.  The  scented  jasmine  and  the  tall  waving  reeds  over 
the  watercourse  will  add  their  charm  to  this  favored  spot. 
Later,  yellow  thistles  abound. 

One  of  the  oddities  of  the  flower  family  is  the  black  lily 
of  the  calla  order,  which  the  natives  call  calf  (leg)  of  the  negro. 

In  the  moist,  shady  caves,  and  sometimes  in  old  cisterns, 
masses  of  maidenhair  fern  grow  in  the  cool  shelter  throughout 
the  year. 

On  the  shores  of  Tiberias  (Galilee)  oleanders  and  blue 
thistles  are  seen  in  May. 

30 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

In  speaking  of  the  wild  animals  of  Palestine  one  is  almost 
led  to  include  the  dog  and  the  cat.  They  are,  however,  on 
the  edge  of  domesticity  and  may  fairly  be  omitted.  Wolves, 
hyenas,  jackals  and  foxes  are  the  troublesome  wild  beasts. 
The  last  two  are  often  about  vineyards  seeking  to  feed  on 
the  grapes.1  The  jackal  cry  at  night  is  very  mournful  and 
sure  to  start  up  the  barking  of  the  dogs,  who  are  themselves 
often  grape  thieves. 

The  beautiful  little  gazels  are  started  up  in  the  wilderness 
and  go  bounding  off  like  thistle-down  in  a  breeze,  turning 
every  now  and  then,  however,  to  look  with  wonder  at  the 
traveler.  Once,  near  et-Tayyibeh  we  saw  four  together,  and 
once,  east  of  Jeba',  we  saw  a  herd  of  nine  gazels. 

Among  the  smaller  creatures  met  with  are  the  mole-rat, 
the  big  horny-headed  lizard,  called  by  the  natives  hirdhon, 
the  ordinary  lizard  about  the  color  of  the  gray-brown  rocks 
among  which  it  speeds,  the  little  green  lizard  that  darts 
about,  and  the  pallid  gecko,  climbing  on  house-walls.  The 
beautiful  and  odd  chameleon  must  also  be  mentioned. 
Snakes  are  not  commonly  seen  by  the  traveler.  Scorpions, 
black  beetles,  mosquitoes,  fleas  and  a  diabolical  little  sand-fly, 
called  by  the  natives  hishis,  are  among  the  less  agreeable 
creatures  noticed. 

At  Haifa,  in  the  house  of  the  Spanish  vice-consul,  we  saw 
the  skin  of  a  crocodile  caught  in  the  river  Zerka  in  1902. 
They  spoke  also  of  one  which  had  been  caught  fourteen 
years  before  in  the  same  waters. 

One  of  the  showiest  birds  of  Palestine  is  the  stork,  which 
is  mostly  white,  but  has  black  wings,  a  red  bill  and  red  legs. 
Its  eyes,  too,  have  a  border  of  the  latter  color.  The  natives 
call  it  abu  sa'd.  Flocks  of  them  may  be  seen  frequently. 
Now  and  then  a  solitary  bird  is  seen  in  a  wheat-field.  Crows 
with  gray  bodies  and  black  wings  are  plentiful.  Ravens, 
vultures,  hawks  and  sparrows  are  common.  Twice  I  saw 

1  Song  2:  15. 
31 


THE   PEASANTRY-  OF   PALESTINE 

the  capture  of  a  sparrow  by  a  hawk.  Once,  after  having 
started  his  victim  from  a  flock,  the  hawk  dashed  after  him 
and  caught  him  in  a  small  tree  but  six  feet  from  my  head. 
It  was  done  with  such  terrific  quickness  as  to  surprise  the 
spectator  out  of  all  action.  Gray  owls  (bumeh),  partridges 
(shunnar),  wild  pigeons  (hamam)  and  quails  (furri)  are  seen. 
It  seemed  quite  appropriate  to  see  doves  on  the  shores  of 
Galilee.  On  the  surface  of  the  same  lake  water-fowls  were 
observed.  At  Jericho  we  saw  the  robin  redbreast;  in  the 
gorge  at  Mar  Saba,  the  grackle.  Starlings  in  clouds  haunt 
the  wheat-fields  in  harvest.  Meadow-larks,  crested,  are  very 
common.  Goldfinches,  bulbuls,  thrushes  and  wagtails  are 
also  noticed. 

The  scenery  of  Western  Palestine  lacks  the  charm  that 
woods  and  water  provide.  Yet  one  grows  to  like  it.  The 
early  and  late  parts  of  the  day  are  best  for  the  most  pleasing 
effects.  Then  the  views  out  across  the  vineyards  and  off  on 
the  hills  are  very  restful.  The  rolling  coast  plain  backed  by 
the  distant  hills  of  the  Judean  highlands  makes  a  pleasing 
prospect,  especially  when  decked  with  the  herbage  thai/ 
follows  the  rains.  Quiet  tastes  are  satisfied  with  such 
pastoral  scenes  as  those  in  the  valley  at  Lubban  or  in  the 
plain  of  Makhna.  Excellent  distant  views  are  afforded  from 
the  hills  near  Nazareth,  from  which  are  seen  the  rich  plains 
of  Esdraelon,  Haifa,  Mount  Carmel  and  the  Mediterranean. 
The  Sea  of  Galilee  is  delightfully  satisfying.  From  Tabor 
one  gets  a  glorious  sight  of  Hermon,  snow-white,  whence  the 
natives  call  it  Jebel  esh-Shaykh  (Old  Man  Mountain).  The 
views  from  Mount  Carmel  of  sea  and  coast-line  and  much 
of  the  interior,  the  glimpse  of  the  Mediterranean  from  the 
hill  of  Samaria  and  the  sweeping  prospect  from  Gerizim  are 
all  good.  An  easily  attained  and  little  known  view-point 
is  Jebel  Tawil  (Long  Mountain)  east  of  el-Bireh.  From  here 
of  a  late  afternoon  the  country  lies  open  in  sharp,  clear  lines 
throughout  the  central  region.  Jerusalem  is  seen  lying  due 


THE       PEASANTRY       OF       PALESTINE 

south  in  beautiful  silhouette;  the  Mount  of  Olives  is  a  little 
east  of  it.  The  Dead  Sea  is  southeast,  et-Tayyibeh  north 
of  east,  Bethel  (Baytin)  northeast,  Gibeon  southwest,  near 
which  is  Neby  Samwil.  Near  at  hand,  to  the  south,  are 
el-Bireh  and  Ram  Allah.  Only  one  thing  is  lacking  in  this 
view;  that  is  the  Mediterranean  Sea.  But  this  can  be  seen, 
as  well  as  Jaffa,  Ramleh  and  Ludd  from  Ram  All&h.  The 
mountain  east  of  the  Jordan  is  plainly  visible  from  all  the 
high  points  up  and  down  the  middle  of  the  country.  Other 
good  view-points  are  Neby  Samwil,  Jeba',  Mukhmas,  the  hills 
about  Jerusalem,  especially  from  the  tower  on  the  Mount  of 
Olives  and  from  Herodium.  Heroic  scenery  may  be  found  in 
the  so-called  Samson  Country  through  which  the  railroad 
from  Jaffa  to  Jerusalem  runs,  in  the  Mukhmas  Valley,  the 
Wady  Kelt  and  gorges  around  Mar  Saba.  Crag,  ravine, 
precipice  and  cave  make  such  places  memorable. 

The  approach  to  cities  and  villages  is  as  characteristic  as 
any  other  aspect  of  them.  There  is  a  look  from  afar  peculiar 
to  the  settlements  of  different  countries.  As  seen  from  a 
distance  American  settlements  are  chiefly  noticeable  for  the 
chimneys,  the  sharp  spires  of  churches,  the  long,  monotonous 
lines  of  factory  buildings  and  mills  and  often  the  pointed 
shape  of  house  roofs.  Add  to  these  enormous  bridges,  miles 
of  railroad  yards  and  cars,  a  nimbus  of  smoke  and  you  have 
the  elements  from  which  to  make  a  view  of  any  good-sized 
town.  For  the  smaller,  sweeter,  country  places  you  must 
subtract  some  of  the  above  features  and  substitute  some 
woodsy  and  meadowy  effects.  In  Syria  the  contrasts  with 
our  more  familiar  scenes  are  plain  to  us  in  the  distant  view 
of  its  cities  and  villages.  Instead  of  the  triangular  shape  is 
the  square  look  of  the  buildings.  Instead  of  chimneys  and 
spires  are  the  huge  domes  resting  on  square  substructures, 
and  the  pencil-like  minarets  rising  up  among  them.  The 
distant  view  of  Jerusalem  is  one  of  the  most  pleasing  in  the 
entire  country.  It  has  been  one  of  the  standard  charms  of 

33 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

Palestine,  delighting  warrior,  poet  and  pilgrim,  and  more 
lately  student,  missionary  and  tourist.  There  she  sits  with 
her  feet  in  deep  valleys,  her  royal  waist  girdled  with  the 
crenelated  wall  and  her  head  crowned  with  the  altar  sites  of 
ancient  time.  There  are  about  her  the  things  that  charm 
the  poetic  sense,  —  age,  chivalry,  religion.  Not  even  eternal 
Rome  can  be  so  rich  in  these  and  so  equally  possessed  of 
them  all. 

Though  it  is  not  always  the  case,  yet  the  greater  num- 
ber of  Syrian  cities  and  villages  seek  hilly  sites.1  The 
ports  cannot  always  do  this,  though  Jaffa  does.  Damascus 
spreads  out  over  a  low  flat  area.  Ramleh  and  Ludd,  being 
plain  dwellers,  must  live  in  lowlands.  But  defense  is  very 
commonly  sought  by  settling  on  the  sides  or  top  of  a  hill 
and  building  the  houses  close  together,  if  not  one  above 
another,  as  if  in  steps. 

Garden  plots  and  vineyards  are  fenced  in  with  hastily- 
constructed  walls  of  the  loose  stone  picked  up  on  the  inside.2 
Between  these  curving  walls  run  sinuous  lanes3  into  the  vil- 
lages from  the  paths  and  roads  outside. 

It  would  be  very  easy  to  make  a  pocket-edition  of  a  book 
of  all  the  roads  in  the  country,  no  matter  how  small  the 
pocket.  Some  roads  are  planned  for,  taxed  for  and  looked 
for  a  great  many  years  before  the  semblance  of  road-making 
begins.  But  never  mind  that;  Orientals  enjoy  a  road  in 
prospect  and  in  retrospect  much  longer  than  in  fact.  Where 
the  government  does  put  through  a  road  it  is  usually  good 
traveling.  The  highlands  afford  the  best  of  road-making 
materials  and,  if  often  enough  repaired,  no  better  roads 
could  be  asked  for.  Many  carriageways  are  over  favoring 
bits  of  country  where  the  frequent  passing  has  marked  out 
the  only  road.  The  Romans  were  the  greatest  road-makers 
in  Palestine.  The  remains  of  their  work  may  even  now  be 
seen  in  various  places.  Many  of  their  old  roads  are  indicated 

1  Matt.  5:  14.  3Isa.  5:2.  3  Num.  22:24. 

34 


THE       PEASANTRY       OF       PALESTINE 

on  the  best  maps.  Roman  roads  at  this  day  of  decay  do  not, 
as  a  rule,  offer  easy  travel.  The  washings  of  a  millennium  or 
two  of  rain  have  made  them  of  the  corduroy  order. 

Of  paths  one  may  make  as  many  as  one  pleases  in  a  country 
where  no  barbed  wire  and  few  walls  prevent.  The  per- 
manency of  the  old  well-worn  paths1  is  very  noticeable,  the 
best  one  always  leading  to  a  village  or  to  a  spring.  There  is 
such  a  thing  as  the  tyranny  of  the  path.  It  is  very  evident 
where  railroads  rule,  and  even  in  a  country  where  the  travel 
must  be  on  the  backs  of  animals,  the  little  bridle-paths  im- 
pose on  one  and,  taking  advantage  of  the  inertia  of  human 
mentality,  mark  out  one's  way  with  arbitrary  exclusiveness. 
When  one's  time  is  limited  to  just  a  sufficient  number  of 
days  to  allow  one  to  see  all  the  more  notable  places  in  the 
country,  it  is  scarcely  to  be  expected  that  one  will  sacrifice 
the  surety  of  seeing  a  noted  place  for  the  chance  of  stumbling 
on  a  place  of  less  popular  interest.  The  paths  and  time  re- 
quired for  seeing  most  places  are  almost  as  clearly  indicated 
as  any  schedule  of  trips  in  countries  possessed  of  time-tables. 
This  accounts  for  the  fact  that,  although  thousands  of 
travelers  pass  over  the  beaten  paths,  and  scores  of  students 
go  over  the  rarer  paths,  not  one  in  the  twenty  or  the  thousand 
is  likely  to  get  off  the  paths. 

One  of  the  bits  of  country  thus  scantily  known  to  foreigners 
is  northern  Judea,  especially  to  the  northwest  of  Jerusalem. 
Most  travelers  passing  through  it  on  the  way  to  Jerusalem 
are  in  haste  to  reach  the  city,  and  once  there,  the  fact  that 
any  place  is  a  few  hours  farther  distant  than  a  day's  trip 
would  allow  forbids  easy  investigation. 

One  does  not  have  to  go  far  to  reach  the  wilderness.2  It 
is  any  uncultivated  place.  It  is  the  pasture  for  flocks,3  the 
wild  of  rocks  and  short,  thorny  bushes.  The  thorns4  are 
gathered  every  other  year  to  build  fires  in  the  lime-kilns, 
where  the  abundant  lime-rock  of  the  country  is  burned. 

^er.  6:16. 2  Psalm  107:  4-7.       3  Ezek.  34:14.     *  Isa.  33:12. 

35 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

When  the  men  gather  them  for  the  lime-kilns  the  thorns  are 
piled  in  great  heaps  with  heavy  stones  on  them  to  hold  them 
down.  When  needed  the  heap  is  pierced  with  a  long  pole 
and  carried  over  the  shoulder  as  on  a  huge  pitchfork.  Dur- 
ing the  late  winter  and  in  spring  only  may  one  see  green 
fields  in  anything  like  a  Western  sense.  The  Plain  of  el- 
Makhna  presents  a  very  lovely  prospect  from  the  height 
above  it.  Something  like  a  small  prairie  effect  is  had  in  the 
Maritime  and  Esdraelon  plains.  Pasture  privilege  is  com- 
monly had  anywhere  if  the  land  be  not  under  actual  cultiva- 
tion. In  the  uplands  the  custom  of  leaving  great  tracts  idle 
in  alternate  years1  in  lieu  of  dressing  the  ground  permits 
wide  pasturage.  As  the  dry  season  advances  the  herdsmen 
seek  the  deep  valleys  with  their  flocks.  There  is  little  oppor- 
tunity for  new  trees  or  shrubs  to  survive  this  universal 
browsing.  So  it  comes  about  that,  except  where  orchards 
are  set  out  or  scraps  of  ancient  woods  remain,  trees  are 
seldom  seen. 

Summer  is  the  time  of  fierce  heat,  and  yet  through  it  all 
the  grape-vines  keep  green  and  the  luscious  clusters  grow 
larger  and  ripen  under  their  heavy  armor-plate  of  leaves. 
The  peasants  enjoy  the  tart  taste  of  green  fruit.  Half-grown 
grapes  are  sometimes  eaten  with  salt  on  them.  Green  alm- 
onds are  eaten  in  the  same  way.  Often  it  is  hard  to  get 
ripe  peaches,  melons  and  other  fruits  because  of  the  tendency 
of  the  peasants  to  pick  them  before  they  are  ripe.  But  the 
time  of  the  ripe  grapes  is  the  glad  time  of  the  year.  Instead 
of  saying  "August  "  the  peasants  often  use  the  expression 
"  In  grapes."  It  is  a  season  by  itself  to  them.  The  vineyard 
owners  build  summer  booths  among  the  vines  and  sleep  there 
through  the  season.  In  large  vineyards  it  is  common  to 
employ  a  black  man,  perhaps  a  Moroccan,  as  a  watcher. 
The  Syrian  peasant  stands  in  peculiar  awe  of  the  black 
stranger.  The  watchers  are  provided  with  shotguns,  for 
Uer.  4:3;  Hosea  10:  12. 


THE       PEASANTRY       OF       PALESTINE 

foxes  and  dogs  like  to  eat  grapes.  All  fruit  must  be  guarded 
against  thievishly  disposed  neighbors.  One  who  knows  his 
vineyard  watches  the  progress  of  the  choicest  clusters,  having 
covered  some  of  them  early  to  keep  them  from  drying  and 
to  allow  them  to  develop  unplucked.  Should  any  grapes  be 
stolen  he  quickly  notices  the  loss.  He  sets  a  thin  row  of 
fine  stones  along  the  top  of  his  wall  in  such  a  way  that  a 
night  marauder  must  necessarily  rattle  them  down  and  thus 
awaken  him.  One  of  the  heartless  bits  of  meanness  that  a 
hostile  peasant  can  perpetrate  in  order  to  pay  a  grudge  is  to 
cut  the  vine  stocks  of  his  enemy's  vineyard.  Since  it  takes 
three  years  for  a  new  vineyard  to  bear,  such  an  act  is  a 
serious  damage. 

The  finest  grapes  within  reach  of  Jerusalem  are  those  from 
Hebron  and  Ram  Allah.  Large  white  clusters  similar  to 
the  Malaga  grapes  are  the  favorites,  though  purple  grapes 
are  also  grown.  At  R&m  Allah  the  vines  lie  flat  on  the 
ground.  The  vine  is  pruned  back  to  leave  three  joints  on 
every  small  branch  that  is  spared  in  the  rigorous  treatment.1 
At  Jifna  the  vines  may  be  seen  trained  on  stakes.  At 
Zahleh,  in  the  Lebanon,  the  growers  have  a  way  of  propping 
up  the  main  vine  a  few  inches  above  the  ground,  so  that  a 
vineyard  has  the  look  of  waves  of  green.  In  Jerusalem  some 
of  the  grapes  at  the  Greek  Hospital  and  at  the  White  Fathers' 
near  St.  Stephen's  Gate  are  raised  on  arbors,  and  the  clusters 
are  covered  with  little  bags.  Thus  protected  the  grapes 
ripen  slowly  and  are  enjoyed  until  late  in  the  season.  Vast 
quantities  of  fresh  grapes  are  consumed  as  an  article  of  daily 
food  during  August,  September  and  October.  The  price, 
when  cheap,  is  a  cent  a  pound,  and  it  gradually  creeps  up 
to  the  fancy  price  of  six  cents  a  pound  late  in  the  season. 
Grapes  have  been  provided  from  the  country  vineyards  as 
late  as  the  first  of  December. 

Trees  need  considerable  soil,  but  the  grape-vine  will  thrive 


1  C/.  John  15. 
37 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

with  very  little  and  will  penetrate  with  its  rootlets  all  the 
fissures  of  the  lime-rock  for  yards  about.  Then,  too,  the 
luscious  bunches  lying  on  a  pebbled  ground  do  better  than 
those  on  clear  soil.  Most  of  the  grass  and  wild,  weedy 
growth  of  the  country  is  bulbous  and  clings  in  scanty  soil, 
gathering  as  in  a  reservoir  all  the  available  moisture. 

When  the  crop  demands  clear  ground  the  native  farmer 
piles  the  stones  into  walls,  watch-towers  or  a  huge  heap  in 
a  less  fertile  spot  of  the  field.1  It  is  often  a  problem  to  find 
room  for  the  waste  stones.  They  may  be  tossed  out  into 
the  roads  and  paths.  A  stranger  says,  "  I  don't  see  why 
these  people  don't  clear  these  paths  of  stone;  surely  it  would 
pay."  But  the  farmers  prefer  stones  in  the  paths  to  stones 
in  the  garden  patch.  With  their  bare  feet,  or  on  their 
donkeys,  they  are  able  by  a  lifetime  of  practise  to  pick  their 
way  over  such  paths.  Moreover,  peasants  are  not  nervous 
in  Palestine.  Stones  always  furnish  a  handy  weapon,2  or 
a  reminder  on  the  heels  of  a  slow  donkey.  In  going  about 
through  the  country  one  often  sees  piles  of  little  stones  set 
up  one  on  another.  Sometimes  these  little  piles  are  meant 
for  scarecrows;  sometimes  they  are  used  to  mark  a  boundary; 
but  there  is  a  wider  and  more  constant  use  for  such  loosely 
built  little  columns.  They  are  set  up  in  sight  of  holy  spots. 
Apparently  they  are  not  only  set  up  in  the  vicinity  of  shrines, 
wilys,  etc.,  but  also  in  places  whence  a  distant  view  may  be 
had  of  some  holy  place,  as  Jerusalem,  which  the  natives  call 
"  el-Kuds  esh-Sharif  "  (The  Noble  Holy)  or,  for  short,  el- 
Kuds,  which  is  practically  equivalent  to  our  expression 
"The  Holy  City."3  These  little  columnar  piles  may  also 
be  met  in  sight  of  the  hill  or  mount  called  Neby  Samwil, 
which  we  usually  identify  with  the  Mizpeh  of  Samuel.4 

The  terrace  is  a  thing  of  great  utility  to  the  hill  farmer  of 
Palestine.  To  the  traveler  it  is  a  thing  of  beauty  as  it  climbs 

1  Isa.  5:2.  2 1  Sam.  30:  6;  1  Kings  12:  18;  2  Kings  3:  25;  c/.  Matt. 
23:  37;  John  8:  59;  10:  31.  *  Cf.  Matt.  4:  5;  27:  53.  « 1  Sam.  7:  5. 


RAM    ALLAH    MAN   AND    A    BASKET   OF   OLIVES 


STRETCH   OF  OLIVE   TREES  ON  ROAD   TO   AYN   SiNYA 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

the  hills  with  its  artistically  irregular  breaks  in  what  would 
be  otherwise  a  rather  monotonous  slope.  But  with  ter- 
races and  some  water  the  earth  is  caught  and  filled  with 
many  possibilities  of  fruit  and  vegetables.  A  hill  well 
terraced  and  well  watered  looks  like  a  hanging  garden. 
Much  of  the  farming  in  Judea  is  on  the  sides  of  hills.  The 
little  iron-shod  wooden  plow  is  run  scratching  along  the 
terraces.  Sometimes  one  of  the  oxen  will  be  on  a  lower  level 
than  the  other.  To  go  forward  without  slipping  down  the 
hillside  is  not  easy.  What  cannot  be  plowed  is  dug  up 
with  the  pickax,  and  wheat  or  barley  will  find  lodgment  in 
every  pocket  of  soil.  As  all  the  reaping  is  done  by  hand  it 
offers  no  especial  difficulty,  and  the  monotony  of  which 
some  people  complain  on  prairie  land  is  never  experienced 
on  such  a  pitched-roof  farm.  Even  where  the  made  terrace 
is  allowed  to  decay  there  are  many  natural  terraces  where 
the  horizontal  layers  outcrop  from  the  hillsides.  Were  the 
country  well  kept  up,  all  these  terraces  would  be  guarded 
artificially,  for  in  time  a  natural  terrace  loses  its  protecting 
edge  and  the  soil  and  rain  come  down  cascading  over  the 
hill  stairs  until  the  bed  of  the  stream  is  reached. 

Of  food  trees  the  olive  is  probably  the  most  valuable.  It 
takes  ten  or  fifteen  years  to  bring  it  to  the  state  of  bearing 
much  fruit,  but  it  may  go  on  bearing  heavy  crops  for  a 
century.  The  oil  is  freely  used  in  cooking,  for  salads,  for 
lighting  and  for  anointing.  A  hard-pressed  peasant  will 
occasionally  yield  to  the  temptation  to  cut  down  some  of 
his  olive-trees,  selling  the  finest  pieces  of  wood  to  the  makers 
of  the  olive-wood  articles1  which  are  prized  by  tourists, 
and  disposing  of  the  rest  as  fire- wood.2  A  hundredweight 
of  such  fire-wood  sells  for  from  twelve  to  twenty-five  cents, 
according  to  the  season  and  the  market,  the  city  price  being 
considerably  higher  than  the  country  price.  A  good  olive- 
orchard  is  a  sure  source  of  income,  unless  the  taxes  are  too 

'1  Kings  6:  23,  31-33.  '  Matt.  7:19. 

39 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

harshly  and  arbitrarily  imposed.  The  cutting  them  down  is 
a  real  calamity  to  the  country,  but  it  is  done  only  too  fre- 
quently in  a  poor  year  to  avoid  taxes.  The  trunk  of  an  aged 
olive-tree  attains  a  great  girth  and  a  gnarled,  knobby  look. 
Sometimes  a  large  part  of  one  of  these  huge  trunks  will  be 
quite  hollowed  out  by  decay,  in  which  case  the  peasants 
often  fill  up  the  cavities  with  a  core  of  stones.  The  tree  goes 
on  bearing  with  chief  dependence  on  the  state  of  the  bark 
for  its  healthy  condition.  The  heavy  crops  and  light  crops 
follow  each  other  in  somewhat  the  same  relation  as  the 
apple  crops  in  our  New  England  country.  Women  and 
children  gather  up  those  olive  berries  that  fall  to  the  ground 
early  in  the  season.  Whenever  it  is  desired  to  gather  the 
crop  of  a  tree  or  orchard  the  men  beat  the  branches  with 
very  long  light  poles  and  the  women  and  the  children  pick 
up  the  fallen  fruit  from  the  ground.  Of  course  this  is  a  poor 
way  to  gather  the  best  olives,  but  inasmuch  as  the  chief 
use  of  the  olive  in  Palestine  is  to  express  the  oil,  it  makes 
less  difference.  The  berries  do  not  ordinarily  grow  to  the 
larger  sizes  so  often  seen  in  our  markets.  Perhaps  one  of 
the  very  handsomest  stretches  of  olive-orchards  in  the  East 
is  at  what  is  called  the  Sahra,  near  Beirut,  between  that  city 
and  Shwayfat.  Other  smaller  but  excellent  orchards  are  to 
be  seen  between  Bethlehem  and  Bayt  Jala,  at  Mar  Elyas, 
Bir  ez-Zayt  and  to  the  south  of  et-Tayyibeh. 

The  fig  in  Judea  ripens  in  August  and  its  fruit  may  be 
had  for  several  months,  as  new  fruit  keeps  maturing.  There 
are  several  varieties  of  this  valuable  tree.  A  few  ripe  figs 
are  often  found  as  early  as  June  and  are  luxuries.1  The 
natives  sometimes  hasten  the  ripening  of  a  few  early  figs 
by  touching  the  ends  with  honey.  The  natives  declare  that 
the  fig-tree  will  not  thrive  near  houses  but  will  become 
wormy.  The  action  of  the  milk  of  fig  branches  and  leaves 
on  the  tissues  of  the  eyes,  lips  and  mouth  is  very  disagreeable, 

1  Isa.  28:  4. 

40 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

sometimes  making  them  very  sore.  The  eyes  of  children  in 
the  fig  season  are  often  very  repulsive.  For  this  reason  the 
people  prefer  other  shade,  if  obtainable,  than  that  of  fig- 
trees.  Most  fig-trees  are  small,  about  the  size  of  an  ordinary 
plum-tree,  but  the  large  green  varieties  may  grow  to  a  con- 
siderable size.  When  small  fig-trees  have  sent  up  two 
pliable  trunk-shoots  these  are  usually  twisted  together  to 
strengthen  each  other.  They  look  like  a  suggestion  of  that 
ugly  taste  in  architecture  that  delighted  in  twisted  columns. 
The  appearance  of  the  branches  of  a  leafless  fig-tree  is  not 
unlike  that  of  the  horse-chestnut  in  winter  time.  Large 
quantities  of  the  black  figs  and  some  of  the  white  figs  are 
dried  in  the  orchards,  being  spread  out  on  the  ground  under 
the  strong  sun-rays. 

The  pomegranate-tree  looks  more  like  an  unkempt  shrub. 
The  beautiful  red  bell-like  blossoms  are  very  attractive. 
Lemons  and  oranges  grown  for  profit  are  often  small  trees. 
The  sour  marmalade  orange  grows  into  a  larger,  statelier  tree. 

At  Urtas,  near  Solomon's  Pools,  the  largest  and  most 
beautifully  colored  apricots  grow.  Peaches,  plums,  quinces 
and  almonds  are  plentiful,  and  the  cherry,  mulberry  and 
walnut  thrive. 

Concerning  trees  about  the  shrines  and  wilys  and  all  the 
so-called  sacred  trees  there  will  be  a  more  appropriate  place 
to  speak  later  on. 

In  a  land  where  fruit  grows  and  flourishes  one  may  have 
far  less  fruit  than  in  some  fruitless  city  in  a  colder  climate 
but  favored  with  ample  facilities  for  transportation.  Right 
here  within  a  few  miles  of  the  finest  orange  groves  in  the 
land,  near  the  vineyards,  under  the  olive  and  fig-trees,  with 
peaches,  pomegranates,  apricots  and  plums,  we  probably  find 
shorter  seasons  for  each  than  is  the  case  in  some  Anglo- 
Saxon  city  of  the  middle  temperatures.  Here  fruit  will  be 
much  cheaper  while  it  lasts,  and  some  fruits,  which^must  be 
found  near  the  trees,  if  enjoyed  at  all,  such  as  the  fig,  will 

41 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

be  available  nowhere  else  as  here.  The  peach,  plum,  orange, 
apricot  and  grape  go  to  the  London,  Liverpool,  New  York, 
Chicago  and  Boston  markets  from  the  place  producing  the 
earliest  crops,  and  the  trains  and  steamships  continue  bringing 
from  various  markets  as  the  season  shifts  from  one  garden 
spot  to  another.  But  right  here,  under  this  particular  orange- 
tree  or  by  this  grape-vine,  we  usually  wait  for  the  ripening  of 
the  local  crop,  knowing  that  lack  of  carrying  facilities  forbids 
us  eating  from  a  tree  that  yields  earlier  fruit  some  hundred 
miles  away,  or  from  a  tree  that  yields  when  our  tree  is  bare. 
And  so  while  people  who  never  saw  an  orange-tree  may  buy 
oranges  ten  months  in  the  year,  we  who  have  an  orange-tree 
in  sight  may  have  to  be  content  with  the  orange  season  of 
our  district.  But  they  will  be  cheap  while  they  last.  Fifty 
cents  is  a  very  ordinary  price  for  a  hundred  of  the  best 
>  oranges,  and  one  dollar  a  hundred  is  pretty  dear. 

The  large  raised  map  of  Palestine  in  fibrous  plaster,  over 
seven  feet  by  four,  published  by  the  Palestine  Exploration 
Fund,  London,  and  the  smaller  one  help  in  the  study  of 
the  physical  features  of  the  country. 

An  excellent  small  Relief  Map  of  Palestine  is  edited  by 
Ernest  D.  Burton  and  published  by  the  Atlas  Belief  Map 
Co.,  Chicago. 

READING  LIST 

WILSON,  C.  T.:  "Peasant  Life  in  the  Holy  Land."    (Button.)      * 
VAN  LENNEP:  "Bible  Lands.     (Harper,  1875.) 
SMITH,  G.  A. :  "  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land." 
HUNTINQTON,  ELLSWORTH:   "Palestine  and  Its  Transformation." 
The  Annual  of  the  American  School  of  Oriental  Research  in  Jeru- 
salem, 1919-20. 

BELL,  GERTRUDE  L. :  "  The  Desert  and  the  Sown." 
SEE  ARTS,  on   Crocodiles  in  the  Pal.   Expl.   Fund  Quarterly,   1920 

(p.  167),  1921    (p.  19).     (Gray  and  Mastennan.) 
Stereoscopic  Views  of  Palestine  by  Underwood  and  Underwood,  and 

lantern  slides  sold  by  the  Palestine  Exploration  Fund. 
(The  statement  on  page  13,  line  20,  needs  change  in  the  light  of  recent  history.) 

42 


A   BEDAWY   HOUSE 


BEDAWY   DRINKING 


THE       PEASANTRY       OF       PALESTINE 


CHAPTER  II 

THE    PEOPLE    OF   PALESTINE 

THE  population  of  Palestine  is  divided  into  three  parts, 
desert,  village  and  city.  The  desert  population  is  the 
original  Arab  stock  of  pastoral  nomads.1  The  village  popu- 
lation is  the  agricultural  society  of  the  country,  and  the  cities 
are  the  meeting  places  of  these  two  with  the  population  of 
other  countries.  The  Bedawy  population  of  the  desert  is  the 
subject  of  much  praise  on  the  part  of  all  writers.  All  who 
speak  of  the  Bedawin  use  a  certain  tone  of  respect,  even 
though  occasion  is  taken  to  poke  fun  at  them  for  their  rude 
ways  as  viewed  by  the  dwellers  in  towns.  The  religion  of 
the  Bedawin  is  a  simplified  Islam,  or,  as  it  may  perhaps  be 
styled,  a  Moslemized  simplicity.  The  encampment  and  the 
march,  herding  and  the  raid,  mark  the  features  of  a  roving 
life  over  some  thousands  of  square  miles  of  wild  land.  The 
different  tribes  have  their  general  boundaries  in  the  great 
Syrian  and  Arabian  deserts  in  about  the  same  way  that  the 
North  American  Indian  once  kept  within  certain  regions  of 
the  continent  according  to  nations. 

The  cities  and  villages  of  Palestine,  so  far  as  appearance 
is  concerned,  vary  in  size  merely.  The  houses  of  a  small 
village  are  oftentimes  just  as  closely  packed  as  the  buildings 
in  a  city,  so  that  a  village  will  look  like  a  fragment  knocked 
off  a  city.  With  us  Westerners  a  village  may  have  as  much 
land  area  as  some  cities,  only  the  dwellings  will  be  far  apart, 
the  difference  being  in  comparative  density  as  well  as  in 
size.  In  Palestine  the  density  is  about  the  same  and  the 
difference  is  in  the  area.  This  compactness  of  the  village 
became  a  fashion  in  times  of  insecurity,  when  feuds  between 


lCf.  Job  1:1-3. 
43 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

villages  led  to  raids  and  reprisals.  The  village  was  built  as 
solidly  as  possible  on  rising  ground.  In  the  middle  of  the 
core  of  original  houses  was  the  chief's  house,  with  a  lofty 
roof  from  which  watch  could  be  kept  of  all  the  surrounding 
country  and  approaches.1  If  you  wish  to  trace  the  growth 
of  a  village,  inquire  for  the  burj,  and  probably  you  will  be 
directed  to  the  highest  spot  in  the  village,  at  least  to  the 
highest  house,  around  which  the  early  village  clustered.  If 
this  be  on  top  of  a  hill,  as  is  frequently  the  case,  the  growing 
village  creeps  down  the  slopes,  the  roof  of  one  house  being 
the  dooryard  of  the  house  above  it,  until  the  effect  of  a 
pyramidal  structure  of  children's  building-blocks  results. 
In  troublesome  times  a  watcher  on  the  burj  of  the  village 
could  warn  his  fellows  working  in  the  outlying  fields  of  the 
approach  of  an  enemy  by  the  firing  of  a  musket  or  by  a 
shrill  cry.  All  fled  to  the  nest  on  the  height,  and  a  successful 
attack  was  difficult  against  the  heavy  stone  houses  and 
narrow  lanes  of  the  village. 

Just  as  among  the  cities  there  are  those  mostly  or  alto- 
gether Moslem  and  others  mostly  or  altogether  Christian, 
so  with  the  villages.  While  the  Moslem  population  greatly 
outnumbers  the  Christian,  yet  there  is  a  very  considerable 
Christian  population.  Ram  Allah,  Bayt  Jala,  et-Tayyibeh 
and  Jifna  are  Christian  villages.  In  Bir  ez-Zayt,  'Ayn  'Arik 
and  'Abud  the  Christians  exceed  the  Moslems.  In  el-Bireh  and 
Ludd  the  Christians  are  comparatively  few.  A  Christian  vil- 
lage is  known  from  afar  by  its  more  prosperous  look,  and 
the  Christian  quarters  of  a  mixed  village  are  also  distinguish- 
able by  the  same  favorable  marks. 

Christian  villages  have  powerful  ecclesiastical  establish- 
ments behind  them  which  work  energetically  to  secure  rights 
for  their  constituents.  Church  life  in  the  country  is  politi- 
cal life,  and  church  dignitaries  are  adepts  in  politics.  The 
wealth  and  cleverness  of  the  church  are  employed  to  hold 


44 


PEASANTS   ON   WAY    TO   MARKET   WITH    PRODUCE 


BEDAWIN    HORSEMAN 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

fast  all  traditions  and  all  concessions  which  favor  the  Com- 
munion and  to  hinder  excessive  injustice  from  overtaking 
the  members.  There  results  a  firm  bond  of  union  between 
the  native  membership  and  the  ecclesiastical  establishment. 
The  Communion  is  a  religious  nation,  as  it  were. 

The  Christian  native  is  not  subject  to  army  service,  as 
only  Moslems  are  thus  eligible.  This  disability  works  to  the 
industrial  advantage  of  the  Christians,  who  pay  an  extra  tax 
or  tribute  in  lieu  of  service.  Centuries  of  this  condition  of 
things  have  developed  the  industrial  abilities  of  the  Christian 
population  in  spite  of  discriminations  against  them  in  the 
courts  and  in  administration.  A  kind  of  religious  status  is 
now  recognized  in  the  relations  between  the  Moslem  and  the 
Christian  peasants.  The  Moslem  stands  hard  by  his  faith 
and  the  Christian  of  the  Greek  Orthodox  Church  will  scorn 
the  thought  that  Christ  and  the  Bible  may  be  for  Moslems. 

Religious  sects  in  the  East  remind  one  of  volcanic  islands; 
they  are  either  ablaze  with  the  fierce  fires  of  an  eruption  or 
else  they  are  overlaid  with  the  ashes  of  an  extinct  fire. 
Between  crazy  fanaticism  and  cold  inanition  there  are  no 
warm  impulses  of  unselfish  evangelism. 

The  Semitic  peasant  has  always  been  a  conservative.  In 
many  ways  he  is  to-day  much  like  what  the  Canaanite  oc- 
cupier of  the  land  must  have  been.  Each  wave  of  conquest 
or  shower  of  civilization  has  left  its  effect,  but  underneath 
the  Palestine  peasant  is  a  primitive  Semite.  Until  within  a 
few  score  years  religion  of  one  sort  or  another  has  usually 
come  to  him  at  the  point  of  the  sword.  He  has  often  adopted 
the  veneer  of  a  new  faith  in  order  to  escape  death.  So  it  was 
when  Joshua  and  the  Hebrew  host  swept  into  the  land, 
Bedawy  fashion;  so  when  Maccabean,  Roman,  Moslem, 
Crusader,  and  Moslem  again  took  control.  The  Palestine 
peasant  has  worshiped  the  Baalim,  Yahweh,  Moloch,  the 
God  of  Israel,  the  Son  of  God,  the  God  of  Islam.  All  the 
time  he  has  kept  a  certain  core  of  Semitic  custom  and 

45 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

superstition,  a  sort  of  basic  religion  that  has  been  much  the 
same  all  through  these  changes.  But  it  is  ofttimes  impossible 
to  distinguish  between  a  survival  of  the  old  and  a  reversion 
or  degeneration. 

The  native  Christian  is  a  shrewd  business  man.  He  is 
courteous  even  to  self-effacement.  He  can  work  hard,  bar- 
gain shrewdly,  save  much,  take  disappointment  and  persist. 
He  loves  his  family  dearly.  He  is  humorous,  philosophic,  a 
voluble  fellow,  non-secretive.  He  respects  the  Western  style 
of  education,  largely  perhaps  because  it  seems  to  lift  people 
into  an  easy  life.  Ease  and  grace  are  Eastern  ideals  of 
superiority. 

If  the  Moslem  and  the  Christian  could  be  put  on  the  same 
political  footing  and  justice  done  to  each  impartially  in  court 
practise  and  taxation,  I  firmly  believe  that  they  would  draw 
together,  that  Palestine  would  in  time  be  a  country  with  a 
people  and  that  it  would  be  well  equipped  from  among  its 
own  with  men  of  ability,  competent  to  do  its  political  and 
social  work. 

In  general  it  may  be  said  that  where  the  Palestine  peasant 
has  not  come  into  relationship  with  the  tourist  business  in 
any  form,  and  where  he  is  some  little  distance  from  any  city, 
he  is  naturally  simple  in  his  tastes  and  requirements,  in- 
terested in  novelty,  sociable,  hospitable,  fun-loving,  hard- 
working, though  not  steady  in  effort. 

A  lone  walker  on  the  road  will  often  sing.  Whistling  is 
almost  unknown.  Peasants  make  a  twenty-mile  journey  on 
foot  with  considerable  ease,  and  half  that  distance  is  done 
very  commonly.  Distances  are  always  reckoned  by  them 
in  hours  or  days,  never  in  miles.  They  often  walk  behind 
their  laden  animals.  Sometimes  it  is  a  donkey,  bearing  the 
plow  and  seed-bag  or  loaded  with  fagots,  grain,  sheaves, 
dried  figs  or  grapes,  according  to  the  season.  Or  it  may  be 
a  camel  similarly  laded  or  carrying  stone;  or  a  mule.  Seldom 
are  horses  used,  except  by  a  village  shaykh  or  a  city  official 

46 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

on  the  highway.  When  groups  of  peasants  are  on  the  road 
there  is  much  talk,  often  laughter,  horse-play,  joking,  chaff- 
ing; sometimes  bickering  and  quarreling. 

The  peasant  stands  in  awe  of  learning,  especially  of  learn- 
ing in  the  Arabic  language.  He  is  sensitive  to  ridicule,  and 
therefore  loath  to  make  such  a  change  in  customs  as  would 
bring  it  on  him.  He  is  eager  in  discussion,  inquisitive, 
strong  in  memory  and  at  imitating,  but  slow  to  adopt  strange 
ways  not  tested  by  the  conditions  of  life  to  which  he  is  accus- 
tomed. You  seldom  or  never  find  him  nervous,  fretful  or 
discontented.  He  never  questions  the  wisdom  of  Provi- 
dence. He  seldom  mentions  weather  probabilities.  He,  like 
his  Old  Testament  countryman,  refers  all  things  to  a  First 
Cause.  Divine  cause  or  permission  is  prominent  in  his 
explanation  of  any  phenomena. 

The  personal  appearance  of  the  villagers  and  the  look  of 
their  houses  vary  with  the  country  level  at  which  they  live. 
In  the  plains  and  lowlands,  where  thatch  and  earth  are  more 
commonly  used  in  building,  there  is  a  population  noticeably 
different  from  the  dwellers  in  the  stone  villages  in  the  high- 
lands. The  inhabitants  lower  down  are  darker  and  smaller 
than  the  hill  villagers.  These  latter  are  often  of  good  size 
and  development  and,  especially  among  the  Christians,  are 
frequently  of  lighter  color.  It  is  not  very  uncommon  to  see 
sandy  complexions  among  them.1  The  women  and  girls  in 
the  best  villages  are  often  handsome.  The  men  are  lithe  of 
body  and  finely  formed.  Both  men  and  women  are  usually 
supple,  slow-motioned,  strong.  They  have  dark,  expressive 
eyes,  neutral  mouths,  medium  foreheads,  heavy  features 
with  curving  lines,  browned  skins  and  black  hair.  Fair 
complexions  are  admired,  especially  the  so-called  wheat- 
colored  complexion  (kumheh).  Eyes  are  distinguished  by  the 
epithets  'asaliyeh  (honey-colored),  kohli  (kohl-colored),  ghuz- 
laniyeh  (gazel-like)  and  so  on. 

1 1  Sam.  16:  12;  Song  5: 10. 
47 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

Different  villages  and  their  inhabitants  get  reputations  for 
doing  one  or  another  kind  of  work  especially  well.  Or  they 
are  distinguished  according  to  disposition,  as  harsh  and 
fanatical,  or  as  courteous  and  reasonable.  Some  villages  get 
a  name  for  dulness  and  others  for  sharpness.  The  villagers 
are  known  about  the  country  by  slight  variation  in  dress,  by 
differing  casts  of  countenance  and  peculiarities  of  speech.1 

We  must  not  magnify  too  much  the  differences  between 
civilizations  and  peoples,  or  between  this  people  of  whom 
we  speak  and  our  own  people.  The  difference  is  often  but 
quantitative.  They  emphasize  some  qualities  which  we 
possess,  though  in  quieter  color  or  in  less  distinctive  marking. 
Oftentimes  the  differences  would  not  be  apparent  except 
that,  as  we  have  passed  rapidly  from  place  to  place,  our  eyes 
have  synchronized  phenomena  of  different  stages  of  culture. 
We  see  really  among  these  strangers  many  practises  and 
notions  of  our  own  distant  forebears. 

Western  people  are  so  in  the  habit  of  pitying  all  the  women 
of  Asia  that  they  will  probably  go  on  doing  so  until  the  end 
of  time  in  spite  of  the  facts.  To  our  Western  idea  woman  in 
the  East  is  a  pitiable,  miserable  abstraction.  The  Turkish 
harem,  the  Indian  child-widow  and  the  deformed  Chinese 
foot  stand  for  all  Asia  to  many  of  us.  There  is  probably  a 
large,  free  area  of  life  open  to  thousands  of  the  women  of 
Asia  that  does  not  seem  cramped  by  comparison  with  the 
total  civilization  of  which  they  are  a  part.  The  Bedawy 
woman  would  not  change  places  with  any  of  us,  and  the 
village  peasant  woman  of  Palestine  enjoys  life  fully  as  well 
as  the  male  villagers.  She  is  not  supposed  to  enter  the  field 
marked  out  by  custom  for  male  members  of  society,  nor  will 
the  field  she  occupies  be  intruded  upon  by  them.  She  shares 
with  the  man  a  preference  for  male  children.  Her  position 
in  this  regard  is  only  an  exaggeration  of  the  condition  that 
prevails  in  all  modern  society.  She,  like  her  brothers  and 

1  Matt.  26:73. 
48 


WOMAN  S   WORK 
1.  At  the  Cistern.  2.  In  the  Market.  3.  Bringing  Brush. 


THE       PEASANTRY       OF       PALESTINE 

sisters  the  world  over,  is  influenced  by  customs  to  which  she 
yields  obedience  a  little  more  gracefully  than  do  many  of 
us.  She  goes  about  her  work  cheerfully  if  she  is  well.  Too 
often  she  is  not  well,  and  in  a  few  years  drudging  toil  and 
frequent  childbearing  age  her.  Like  her  sisters  in  other 
countries,  she  is  sometimes  tidy  and  sometimes  not.  She 
loves  her  children.  Whether  she  loves  her  husband  or  not 
is  not  easy  to  discover,  but  she  pays  him  proper  respect  and, 
if  kind,  she  probably  cherishes  real  esteem  for  him.  The 
marriage  was  probably  not  of  her  choosing,  and  very  likely 
not  of  his.  Marriage  is  a  state  entered  into  dutifully  by  all 
sons  and  daughters.  It  builds  the  tribe  or  great  family 
which  is  at  bottom  the  object  of  a  Syrian's  greatest  devotion 
next  to  himself,  and  often  before  himself. 

If  you  awake  in  the  early  hours  of  morning  you  will  hear 
the  monotonous  rumble  of  the  stone  mills,  telling  that  the 
day's  work  for  the  women  has  begun.  When  the  spring  is 
very  small  or  low,  and  it  takes  a  long  time  to  fill  a  jar,  the 
women  and  young  girls  will  sometimes  go  out  before  it  is 
light  to  get  the  first  turn  at  the  trickling  stream.  Long 
journeys  are  made  into  the  waste  places  to  secure  headloads 
of  brush  or  grass-fodder.  A  woman  usually  wears  a  dark 
blue  crash  dress  while  at  work.  Her  legs  and  feet  are  bare; 
perhaps  she  carries  a  rough  pair  of  shoes  such  as  the  men 
wear,  but  they  are  for  the  briers  and  stones  outside  the 
village.  Should  she  put  them  on  within  the  village  the 
other  women  would  laugh  at  her  and  call  her  proud  or 
citified. 

Unmarried  women  are  very  scarce  among  the  peasantry. 
Marriage  usually  comes  at  an  early  age  for  girls.  One  of  the 
owners  of  a  house  that  we  had  to  hire  for  the  work  of  the 
new  boys'  training  school  had  as  wife  such  a  mere  slip  of  a 
girl  that  we  were  curious  to  know  her  age.  She  couldn't  tell 
us  how  old  she  was,  but  said  that  she  had  been  married  five 
years.  A  companion  with  her  ventured  the  guess  that  her 

49 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

age  was  thirteen  years.  The  little  wife  seemed  happy  and 
was  the  only  peasant  wife  I  ever  saw  receiving  any  affec- 
tionate attentions  from  her  husband.  She  was  a  pretty  girl 
and  seemed  to  be  a  pet  in  the  family.  She  had  her  own 
little  ways  of  enjoying  her  little  life.  One  day,  when  some 
much  poorer  women  from  el-Bireh  were  toiling  on  the  house 
which  her  husband's  family  was  building,  bringing  stone  and 
mortar  on  their  heads,  Mrs.  Thirteen-years  put  on  her  best 
dress  of  blue  with  some  Bethlehem  needlework  on  the  breast, 
adorned  her  fingers  with  the  rings  of  cheap  nickel  and  glass, 
commonly  worn,  and  taking  a  piece  of  embroidery,  stood 
thus,  plying  her  needle  genteelly,  where  the  other  women 
were  toiling  at  their  severer  task.  Many  were  the  glances 
they  threw  at  her,  but  when  they  looked  her  eyes  were  on 
her  handiwork. 

Several  statements  on  page  45  /.,  especially  the  one  on 
army  service,  need  modification  now.  See  Chapter  XII. 
The  classical  work  in  English  on  the  modern  life  of  the 
Bedawin  is  Charles  M.  Doughty 's  Arabia  Deserta  which 
has  recently  come  out  in  a  new  and  expensive  edition. 


THE       PEASANTRY       OF       PALESTINE 


CHAPTER  III 

FAMILY  LIFE 

When  our  sons  shall  be  as  plants  grown  up  in  their  youth, 

And  our  daughters  as  corner-stones  hewn  after  the  fashion  of  a  palace; 

When  our  garners  are  full,  affording  all  manner  of  store, 

And  our  sheep  bring  forth  thousands  and  ten  thousands  in  our  fields; 

When  our  oxen  are  well  laden; 

When  there  is  no  breaking  in,  and  no  going  forth, 

And  no  outcry  in  our  streets : 

Happy  is  the  people  that  is  in  such  a  case ; 

Yea,  happy  is  the  people  whose  God  is  Jehovah. 

Psalm  144: 12-15. 

THE  above  bit  of  ancient  expression  would  describe  the 
ideal  of  happiness  of  a  village  people  in  Palestine  to-day. 

In  a  village  there  may  be  few  or  many  tribes.  In  a  village 
tribe  there  may  be  scores  of  families.  The  tribe  is  a  great 
family  and  goes  by  the  Arabic  name  Ddr  (court  or  house). 
In  el-Bireh,  for  instance,  there  are  four  tribes  among  its 
eight  hundred  Moslems  and  one  tribe  of  Christians  numbering 
less  than  a  hundred.  The  Moslem  tribes  are  Ddr  Tawil, 
Ddr  Kurdn,  Ddr  Hamayil  and  Ddr  'Abid.  The  Christian 
tribe  goes  by  the  name  Rafidya,  because  originally  the  mem- 
bers came  from  a  village  of  that  name,  near  Nablus.  Ddr 
Tawil  is  by  far  the  most  influential  and  supplies  two  of  the 
three  shaykhs  of  the  village  recognized  by  the  general  govern- 
ment. The  other  shaykh  comes  from  Ddr  Kurdn.  These 
three  shaykhs  are  the  intermediaries  between  the  general 
government  and  the  village.  Sometimes  the  tribe  will  be- 
come so  large  as  to  have  subordinate  divisions  within  it. 
In  Ram  Allah  there  are  five  original  tribes,  the  Hadadeh,  the 
Dar  Ibrahim,  the  Dar  Jurjus,  the  Hasasineh  and  the  Shakara. 
But  the  tribe  of  Hadadeh  is  nearly  the  equal  in  numbers  of 

51 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

the  other  four,  and  has  been  divided  into  four  sub-tribes,  the 
Sharaka,  the  Dar  Awad,  the  Dar  Yusuf  and  the  D&r  Abu 
Jaghab.  The  result  is  that  there  are  practically  eight  tribes 
in  the  village.  The  four  branches  of  the  Hadadeh  feel  a 
kinship  and  importance  from  their  common  source  and 
present  size.  The  other  four  tribes  go  by  the  common 
designation  of  the  Hamayil. 

Birth  is  the  usual  mode  of  entering  a  tribe,  but  outsiders 
are  sometimes  admitted.  A  man  from  another  part  of 
Syria  had  occasion  to  live  in  one  of  the  large  Christian  vil- 
lages of  Palestine  and  wished  to  be  counted  as  a  citizen 
there.  He  decided  to  join  a  certain  tribe  in  that  village. 
As  much  as  he  was  permitted,  he  fellowshiped  with  that 
tribe,  went  to  their  guest-house  occasionally  and  contributed 
to  expenses  by  sharing  in  their  provision  of  food  for  visiting 
strangers  and  soldiers.  He  then  had  the  government  at 
Jerusalem  change  his  kushan  or  paper  of  residence  and 
citizenship  so  that  it  should  now  declare  him  a  resident  of 
such  and  such  a  village.  When  he  had  spoken  to  the  elders 
of  the  tribe  that  he  sought  to  join,  and  they  in  turn  to  the 
members  of  the  tribe,  he  was  admitted  to  membership  with 
them  by  common  consent.  Thenceforth  he  paid  his  military 
tribute  through  the  chief  men  of  this  tribe.  The  elders 
mentioned  are  the  heads  of  families  and  are  called  the 
ukhtiyartyeh.  They  are  the  tribal  chiefs  and  representatives. 

Ordinarily  friendship  is  confined  to  this  tribal  relation- 
ship, and  marriage  is  usually  restricted  to  its  limits.  As  an 
Arabic  proverb  expresses  it,  "  I  am  against  my  cousin,  but 
my  cousin  and  I  are  against  the  world."  People  outside 
this  tribal  family  are  strangers  and  possible  foes.1  If,  con- 
trary to  what  they  expect  of  outsiders,  we  should  show  our- 
selves kindly  disposed  to  them  by  continual  helpful  acts, 
very  likely  they  might  set  up  a  hypothetical  relationship 

.  14:  21;  15:  3;  23:  20j  c/.  Matt.  5:  44-46. 
52 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

between  themselves  and  us,  at  least  in  conversation,  in  order 
to  gloss  over  the  anomaly. 

Closer  yet  is  the  relationship  within  the  immediate  family. 
As  long  as  the  size  of  the  family  permits,  it  occupies  the  one 
house,  or  extensions  of  it,  but  if  it  is  prosperous  and  growing, 
new  households  are  set  up  and  by  such  a  process  the  tribe 
develops.  Where  friendship  is  practically  confined  to  the 
family  and  tribe  the  importance  of  family  membership  and 
numerous  family  connections  will  be  appreciated.1  The 
larger  and  more  influential  one's  family,  the  more  secure  are 
its  fortunes.2  And  influence  depends  on  the  number  of  the 
men. 

A  Moslem  was  killed  and  it  was  several  months  before  his 
slayers  were  detected  and  brought  to  punishment.  The 
family  of  the  deceased  was  large  and  worked  together  to 
ferret  out  the  secret.  A  smaller  family  might  never  have 
been  able  to  accomplish  the  object.  Outsiders  or  the  govern- 
ment would  have  made  no  such  persistent  effort.3 

Marriages  in  the  country  are  usually  with  some  kindred 
family.4  Marrying  outside  one's  tribe  is  comparatively 
rare.  Marriage  is  the  one  important  subject  among  parents 
of  boys  and  girls.  Girls  are  sometimes  married  as  early  as 
seven  years.  They  are  betrothed  at  much  tenderer  ages. 
A  mother  brought  a  little  child  in  arms  to  one  of  the  village 
day-schools  and  urged  its  acceptance,  doubtless  to  have 
relief  from  the  care  of  it  for  a  part  of  the  day.  The  child 
was  a  girl,  and  the  teacher  of  the  girls'  school  refused  to  take 
her,  exclaiming,  "  Why,  she's  a  mere  baby.  We  cannot 
teach  her  to  read  now."  The  mother  argued  and  finally 
said,  "  If  you  don't  take  her  now  she  will  be  betrothed 
soon."  The  introduction  of  school  privileges  into  the 
country,  for  girls  as  well  as  for  boys,  has  resulted,  in  many 
cases,  in  lengthening  the  childhood  of  those  who  otherwise 

1  Psalm  127: 3-5.          2Gen.  24:60.          3C/.  Deut.  21:1-9. 

4  Gen.  24:3-4;  28:2;  Num.  36:  8-11. 

53 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

would  have  been  betrothed  and  married  early  in  life.  Par- 
ents are  generally  unwilling  to  allow  a  younger  daughter  to 
be  married  before  an  elder  daughter.1 

A  marriage  settlement  in  money  is  expected  from  the 
bridegroom  and  paid  to  the  father  of  the  bride.  Parents 
often  attempt  to  avoid  cash  payments  by  an  exchange  of 
brothers  and  sisters.  A  family  with  a  boy  and  a  girl  make 
overtures  to  an  eligible  family  having  a  girl  and  a  boy,  and 
the  young  people  are  paired  off  at  more  advantageous  terms 
all  round  than  would  be  the  case  if  the  families  were  strangers, 
that  is,  if  they  were  out  of  tribal  relations  with  each  other. 
Sometimes,  of  course,  this  matter  of  exchange  causes  people 
of  very  different  ages  to  be  joined,  but  then  the  years  heal 
that,  and  the  theory  is  that  if  the  bride  is  considerably 
younger  than  the  groom  the  husband  as  he  comes  to  old 
age  will  have  a  comparatively  strong  and  able  housekeeper 
and  caretaker  in  his  wife. 

The  usual  wedding  payment  to  the  father  of  the  bride 
is  about  two  hundred  twenty-five  dollars  in  this  vil- 
lage. From  this  sum  the  father  may  make  his  daugh- 
ter such  presents  as  he  pleases  of  jewels  and  head-coins. 
The  wedding  costume  of  the  bride  is  the  gift  of  the  groom's 
family. 

Where  a  widowed  -woman  is  remarried,  the  marriage  por- 
tion paid  her  father  is  less  than  in  the  case  of  a  first  marriage, 
and  she  is  apt  to  receive  a  larger  share  of  it  in  presents  from 
her  father,  since  she  cannot,  in  this  case,  be  made  to  marry 
except  by  her  own  consent. 

To  get  the  business  of  marriage  settled  at  the  earliest  date 
and  in  the  most  advantageous  way  possible  is  the  aim  of 
guardians  and  parents.  The  wife  will  have  done  her  part 
well  if  she  bears  children,  mostly  boys,2  sees  that  no  un- 
necessary losses  of  money  or  food  occur  in  the  house  and  holds 
her  tongue.  If  she  fails  in  any  of  these  points  she  may  dim 

1  Gen.  29:  26.  2Gen.  29:  34 j  30:  20. 

54 


BRINGING   HOME   THE    BRIDAL   TROUSSEAU 


GIRLS  AT  PLAY.       CARRYING  IIEADLOADS  OF  GRASS   IN  IMITATION  OF  THE 

WOMEN 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

the  felicities  of  the  married  state,  that  is,  of  her  husband 
and  his  father  and  brothers. 

There  are  three  occasions  preceding  the  actual  marriage  of 
the  man  and  woman  on  which  public  celebration  is  made. 
The  first  is  the  engagement.  This  is  arranged  between  the 
fathers  of  the  young  people.  The  initiative  is  taken  by  the 
father  of  the  young  man  working  through  friends,  who  ap- 
proach the  father  of  the  girl  and  make  a  proposition  of 
betrothal.  If  all  is  favorable  the  bargain  may  be  bound 
by  money  paid  to  the  father  of  the  young  woman.  A 
betrothal  party  is  arranged  for  friends  of  both  the  contract- 
ing young  people  at  the  home  of  the  prospective  bride.  The 
young  man  prepares  a  feast  for  the  invited  guests,  a  sheep 
is  killed,  a  priest  may  be  present  and  the  betrothal  made 
public.  The  agreement  is  but  a  little  less  strong  than  the 
marriage  contract  itself.1  The  second  public  manifestation 
is  the  purchase  by  the  groom  of  the  marriage  outfit  of  gar- 
ments, including  the  bridal  trousseau,  and  the  procession  that 
carries  the  articles  home.  The  bridegroom's  party  goes  to 
some  large  near-by  village  or  the  nearest  city  for  these  pur- 
chases. One  day  we  were  apprised  of  such  a  trousseau 
party  by  shouting  and  the  firing  of  arms,  and  later  a  proces- 
sion of  women  went  by  on  their  way  to  their  own  village, 
carrying  with  them  the  bundle  of  wedding  garments.  One 
of  their  village  chiefs  was  with  them.  At  another  time  a 
group  returning  from  Jerusalem  on  a  similar  errand  was  met 
by  a  crowd  of  women  on  the  outskirts  of  the  village  and 
accompanied  into  it  with  singing  and  dancing.  This  time 
the  women  had  a  stick  dressed  up  with  the  bridal  costume. 
There  was  the  red  striped  dress  and  gay  jacket  on  a  cross- 
stick  frame  to  hold  out  the  sleeves.  There  were  also  a 
girdle,  the  heavy  coin  head-dress  and  three  small  mirrors, 
one  on  each  arm  and  one  on  the  breast.  The  Bethlehem 
costume  is  very  commonly  used  for  gala  occasions  by  peo- 

lCf.  Deut.  22:23,24. 
55 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

pie  of  other  sections,  as  it  is  one  of  the  showiest  costumes  of 
the  country.  The  bridegroom  is  expected  to  provide  wed- 
ding garments  for  relatives  of  the  bride,  though  they  in 
turn  may  be  expected  to  return  a  wedding  gift  of  equal 
value  to  him.  The  third  celebration  may  last  two  or 
three  days.  Towards  the  close  of  it  the  wedding  itself 
takes  place. 

We  went  one  Saturday  evening  to  see  the  jollification  that 
preceded  a  wedding  to  be  solemnized  the  next  day.  Outside 
the  house  of  the  groom  there  were  two  lines  of  young  men, 
their  number  varying  from  forty  to  sixty  as  they  shifted 
places,  some  dropping  out  and  others  falling  into  line  from 
time  to  time.  These  two  lines  were  facing  each  other  and  a 
bright  brush  fire  was  blazing  in  the  middle.  As  more  men 
crowded  in  to  participate  a  line  was  formed  at  one  end,  thus 
making  a  third  side  of  a  parallelogram.  The  men  on  either 
side  were  singing  back  and  forth  to  each  other,  in  antiphonal 
fashion,  while  they  kept  up  a  sort  of  swaying  dance  in  line 
called  the  mirab.  By  pressing  their  shoulders,  neighbor  to 
neighbor,  the  line  moved  as  one  mass.  The  left  foot  was 
made  the  base  of  movement  for  each  singer.  The  right  foot 
was  swayed  and  then  lifted  high  and  forward  until  the  whole 
body  swung  forward  in  a  sweeping  bow  or  duck.  The  hands 
were  also  keeping  time,  rubbing  up  and  down  the  forearms 
from  the  elbows  to  the  finger-tips,  the  head  meanwhile  sway- 
ing from  side  to  side,  all  to  the  native  peasant  singing  of  the 
same  simple  tune  over  and  over  again.  Certain  fixed  verses 
were  made  the  basis  and  were  finished  out  with  impromptu 
verses  for  the  occasion.  Some  of  these  were,  "  We  are  glad 
to  see  your  faces."  "  We  have  come  to  you;  if  it  were  not 
for  love  we  should  not  be  here."  "  Love  is  sweet."  "  We 
hope  for  good  large  dishes."  "  Did  you  see  any  Bedawin 
coming  up  from  the  East?  "  "  Such  and  such  (naming 
them)  villages  will  help  you  against  the  enemy."  "  Fear 
not,  delicate  young  women,  our  young  men  will  protect  you," 

56 


THE       PEASANTRY       OF       PALESTINE 

and  so  on,  passing  compliments,  singing  the  praises  of  love 
and  acknowledging  its  power  in  bringing  them  together,  or 
mingling  snatches  of  war  sentiment,  anticipation  of  generous 
servings  of  the  wedding-feast  and  assurances  of  alliance, 
friendship,  defense  and  security  in  the  strength  and  equip- 
ment of  their  young  men.  The  bridegroom  mingled  joy- 
fully with  the  others,  sometimes  performing  in  the  line  and 
sometimes  replenishing  the  brush  fire.  All  around,  on  the 
roofs  of  the  neighboring  houses,  in  the  darkness  that  was 
black  by  contrast  with  the  brilliant  fire,  the  women  of  the 
tribe  were  seated.  Every  now  and  then,  at  any  seeming  lull 
in  the  excitement,  some  woman  would  set  up  the  peculiar 
trilling  cry  called  the  zaghdrut  or  zaghdrit,  at  which  the  men 
would  fairly  leap  into  a  renewal  of  the  dance  and  song. 
Pistols  and  muskets  were  shot  off  occasionally.  Although 
this  was  all  taking  place  in  a  Christian  village,  a  good 
number  of  Moslem  youths  from  a  neighboring  village  came 
over  to  join  in  the  fun.  They  had  brought  two  sheep  which 
had  been  slaughtered  and  were  now  simmering  in  immense 
kettles  for  a  feast.  The  father  of  the  groom  acted  as  an 
overseer  of  the  gayeties  and  was  trying,  apparently,  to  curb 
the  zeal  of  those  who  had  firearms  to  discharge. 

On  the  wedding-day  in  a  Christian  village  the  bride  and 
groom  with  their  attendant  friends  form  two  parties  and 
approach  the  church  from  different  quarters.  If  obtainable, 
horses  are  provided  for  the  bride  and  groom  to  ride  on  and 
she  is  completely  covered  over  with  a  mantle,1  a  feather  being 
stuck  in  the  top  of  it  over  her  head.  Inside  the  church  the 
bridal  party,  consisting  of  groom,  bride,  best  man,  brides- 
maid, the  mothers  and  some  other  relatives,  stand  in  the 
middle  of  the  church  facing  the  altar.  The  groom  stands  at 
the  bride's  right  hand;  she  is  heavily  veiled.  Guests  and 
spectators,  in  the  case  of  the  wedding  mentioned  above, 
filled  the  church  on  either  side  of  the  bridal  party  and  a  large 

1  Cf.  Gen.  24:  65. 
57 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

concourse  filled  the  yard  outside.  Four  priests  and  a  censer 
boy  entered  the  church.  Tapers  were  provided  for  those 
guests  nearest  the  young  people,  while  candles  were  given  to 
the  bride  and  groom.  These  were  lighted.  The  censer  was 
swung.  The  ritual,  hymns  and  Scripture  were  read  or  in- 
toned, partly  in  Arabic  and  partly  in  Greek.  The  head 
priest,  who  was  a  Greek  by  blood,  read  the  Greek  portions, 
while  his  assistants,  natives  of  the  village,  read  the  Arabic 
parts.  Rings  which  had  been  touched  on  the  head  and  lips 
of  bride  and  groom  were  placed  on  their  hands  and  after- 
wards changed  about.  Wreaths  of  artificial  flowers  were 
placed  on  their  heads.  The  book  to  which  most  respect  had 
been  shown,  the  Bible,  was  brought  down  between  them, 
dividing  their  joined  fingers.  Then,  headed  by  the  priests, 
the  bridal  party  marched  around  in  a  circling  course  with  all 
the  attendant  relatives.  Some  old  women,  following  closely 
behind  the  bride  and  groom,  caught  at  their  robes  and,  join- 
ing them,  went  through  the  motions  of  sewing  them  with 
threadless  needles.  After  this  the  final  pronouncement  was 
made  by  the  head  priest  and  the  ceremony  was  over.  Im- 
mediately the  best  man  grabbed  the  groom  in  a  sort  of 
ecstasy  of  congratulation  and  lifted  him  into  the  air  twice,  and 
would  have  done  so  a  third  time  had  not  the  priest  inter- 
fered, probably  thinking  that  these  demonstrations  were  out 
of  place  in  the  church.  A  gun  was  fired  outside  the  church 
as  soon  as  it  was  known  that  the  ceremony  was  complete. 
After  some  hearty  felicitations  the  party  moved  off  in 
procession  with  priests  and  guests. 

The  groom,  with  the  men,  went  to  the  guest-room1  of 
the  tribe,  where  they  enjoyed  conversation,  coffee  and  ciga- 
rettes. The  bride  and  her  party  of  women  went  to  the  home 
of  the  groom.  As  she  was  about  to  enter  the  house  a  water- 
jar  was  placed  on  her  head  and  her  hand  was  assisted  to 
plaster  a  piece  of  bread-dough  on  the  jamb  of  the  doorway. 

1  Matt.  9: 15. 
58 


WASHING   A    CHILD 


A    SWADDLED    INFANT 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

These  signs  were  in  token  of  good  housewifely  qualities. 
After  the  bride  had  been  seated  for  some  time  inside  the 
house  her  women  friends  were  granted  their  entreaty  and  she 
allowed  them  to  uncover  her  face.  Then  she  consented  to 
exhibit  her  jewelry,1  silver  bracelets,  bangles,  head-coins, 
ear-jewels,  etc.  She  seemed  very  sad,  as  is  expected  when 
a  young  girl  leaves  her  mother,  and  quite  exhausted.  Her 
hands  and  nails  were  stained  with  henn&.  It  is  said  that  the 
hands,  wrists  and  lower  limbs  are  always  stained  thus  on  the 
night  before  the  wedding.  Outside  the  house  five  kettles 
filled  with  mutton  were  set  on  stones  over  wood  fires.  They 
were  seething  and  bubbling,  getting  into  readiness  for  the 
wedding-feast  in  the  evening.2 

At  the  guest-house  assembly,  where  the  groom  and  his 
men  friends  are  gathered,  some  one  calls  out  the  names  of 
those  who  have  given  money  presents  to  the  bridegroom  and 
the  amount  in  each  case. 

If  there  are  reasons  for  a  less  public  wedding  celebration 
than  usual,  the  ceremony  is  performed  on  a  week-day.  Such 
is  the  case  when  some  near  relative  has  died  recently,  where 
haste  is  desired,  or  where  the  man  or  the  woman  has  been 
married  previously. 

One  Sunday  we  saw  a  double  wedding  celebration.  But 
one  was  in  the  Greek  Orthodox  Church  and  the  other  was  in 
the  United  Greek  Church,  which  is  papal  in  allegiance.  The 
contracting  families  were  so  closely  related  as  to  allow  of  but 
one  of  the  marriages  planned  between  them,  according  to 
Greek  Church  law.  But  as  each  family  had  a  son  and 
daughter  to  marry  off  to  the  daughter  and  son  of  the  other 
family  and  considered  their  own  interests  in  the  matter  as 
of  more  importance  than  church  law,  one  bridal  party  was 
sent  to  one  church  and  one  to  the  other. 

The  party  of  one  of  the  bridegrooms  was  provided  with 
sword  dancers,  and  as  they  reached  any  open  place  of  suffi- 

»Isa.61:10;  Jer.  2:32.  2Gen.  29:22. 

59 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

cient  size,  as  at  the  street  corners,  a  space  was  cleared  and  a 
dancer  with  a  short  curved  sword  in  one  hand  and  a  waving 
cloth  in  the  other,  went  through  the  graceful  movements, 
leaping  and  crouching, 

AN  INTRODUCTION  TO  A  WEDDING-SONG 

This  bride  is  clothed  with  silk  from  Damascus: 
Her  hair  is  perfumed  sweetly. 

When  the  bridegroom  goes  to  greet  her, 

Goes  to  press  on  her  forehead  the  golden  coin,1 

He  finds  her  as  a  fragrant  branch; 
Praise  be  unto  God. 

O  comrades,  when  I  saw  her, 

Three  silver  rings  were  on  her  little  finger. 

Foolish  one!  did  I  not  tell  thee  "  heed  her  "? 
This  good  girl  bears  the  key  of  relief. 

THE  BRIDE'S  GOOD-BYE  TO  HER  FAMILY  * 

0  mother  mine,  fill  for  me  my  pillows; 

1  left  the  house  without  a  farewell  to  my  friends. 

0  mother  mine,  fill  them  for  me; 

1  left  the  house  without  a  thought  for  my  gospels. 

O  one  possessed  of  rosy  cheeks, 
Thou'rt  worth  of  gold  a  deal. 

May  God  shield  those  who  reared  thee; 
Never  a  day  did'st  thou  go  out  alone. 

O  one  possessed  of  rosy  cheeks, 
Thou'rt  worth  of  gold  a  closet  full. 

May  God  shield  those  who  trained  thee; 
Not  a  day  didst  thou  go  out  angry. 

1  In  the  evening  of  the  wedding-day  when  the  bridegroom  is  allowed 
a  glimpse  of  his  wife's  face  before  he  goes  to  join  his  friends  in  the 
merrymaking,  he  presses  a  gold  coin  on  her  forehead.  It  is  his  gift, 
and  falls  into  her  lap. 

8  The  two  songs  on  this  page  are  from  et-Tayyibeh. 

60 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

Thou  art  a  branch  of  willow,  my  daughter, 
Thou  art  a  branch  of  willow,  thou. 

On  thy  strands  thou  puttest  the  coins, 
Dangling  the  coins  from  thy  head. 

Thou'rt  a  branch  of  rihan,1  O  daughter, 
A  branch  of  rihan  art  thou. 

On  the  braids  thou  puttest  silver  dollars, 
On  the  braids  the  coins,  O  thou! 

Do  not  go  from  my  house,  my  pet, 

Thou  who  repairest  my  house  in  its  borders. 

Thou  wentest  forth  from  my  house,  O  pet, 
And  there  wast  none  other  like  thee. 

Going  out  of  the  house  of  the  good  to  the  house  of  a  prince, 
Wearing  anklets  on  her  feet  and  dressed  in  a  robe  of  silk. 

Going  from  the  house  of  the  good  to  that  of  a  prince, 
Anklets  on  her  feet  and  dressed  in  a  silken  robe. 


WHEN  THE  BRIDEGROOM  TAKES  PART  IN  THE  PROCESSIONS 
Where  is  the  bridegroom,  where?     Let  us  amuse  him. 
May  he  be  preserved  for  us  and  long  life  to  his  brother. 

The  procession  went  along;  in  front  was  dancing. 

0  prince,  with  gold  are  the  guns  of  the  youths  glistening. 

Going  down  to  the  procession  like  a  prince; 

1  wish  thee  in  the  prophet's  keeping. 

O  mounted  bridegroom,  no  one  is  like  thee  to  me. 
Thou  art  as  a  ring  of  silver  placed  on  my  breast. 

O  bridegroom,  riding,  as  an  apple  art  thou; 

Go  to  thine  own  before  I  snatch  thee  as  the  wind. 

O  bridegroom,  riding,  as  a  lemon  art  thou; 

Go  to  thine  own  before  I  snatch  thee  with  my  eyes. 

1 A  fragrant  herb.  2  From  et-Tayyibeh. 

61 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

SONG  BEFORE  THE  BRIDEGROOM l 

Be  happy,  cousin,  at  sight  of  thee  fled  my  trouble; 

Be  happy,  owner  of  the  tarbush,  be  jealous  of  our  wealth. 

Be  happy,  thou  with  the  ample  drawers,  and  jealous  of  our  gold. 
"  O  uncle,"  said  Ghalyeh,  the  costly  bride, 

"  I'll  marry  none  but  the  Bedawy  with  his  tilted  head-dress; 
The  one  win*  at  noonday  threshes  in  the  face  of  the  Arabs."2 

Cut  and  be  cut,  O  pomegranate,  the  water  flows  in  the  orchard. 
She  came  to  the  garden  which  is  full  of  pomegranates. 

SONG  BEFORE  THE  BRIDE* 

Come  out,  O  pet,  O  jewel  mine,  costly; 
Tell  us  the  precious  price  thy  father  asked. 

We  have  walked  from  country  to  country 
And  we  have  found  maidens  costly. 

We  have  asked  for  the  girl  from  her  father, 
Her  father  who  is  as  rich  as  Aleppo. 

We  have  walked  from  street  to  street, 

And  have  found  many  who  were  daughters  of  princes. 

Ride  on,  O  daughter  of  the  Hadadiyeh,4 
Thy  worth  in  gold  is  two  hundred  hundred. 

Tighten  the  saddle  for  her,  O  father,  tighten  it; 
Count  out  to  her  a  hundred  quarter  riyals. 


THE  VOICES  OF  THE  WOMEN  IN  HIGH  TONES  CALLING 
OUT  ABOUT  THE  BRIDE* 

Bend  gracefully  from  side  to  side, 

O  thou  who  bendest  as  a  palm  in  the  mountains. 

Thou  art  not  bad  to  lower  thy  value, 

But  thou  art  like  the  well-bred  horses,  perfect. 

Put  thy  sleeve  over  thy  mouth,  thou  beauty,  like  thy  mother; 
The  man  is  thy  uncle,  he  will  make  and  enlarge  thy  sleeve. 

1  From  Ram  Allah.     2  Cf.  Judges  6:11.     3  From  Ram  Allah.  4  Means 
a  woman  who  is  a  member  of  the  tribe  of  Hadad.     6  From  et-Tayyibeh. 

62 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

Thy  garment,  O  choice  one,  two  did  cut  it, 

And  more  than  a  fortnight  did  seven  tailors  make  it. 

If  love  were  not  like  fleet  horses, 

Love  and  I  should  be  separated  as  day  from  night. 

WHEN  THE  BRIDE  ENTERS  THE  HOUSE  OF  THE  GROOM  > 

Sprinkle  the  cushions  with  roses  and  henna; 
Let  the  bridegroom  rejoice  and  be  refreshed. 

Sprinkle  the  cushions  with  roses  and  perfume; 

Let  the  bridegroom  sit  on  the  cushion  with  his  dear  one. 

O  pair  of  gazels,  how  you  are  marked  with  lienna! 
May  you  two  rejoice  each  other. 

By  marriage  the  wife  becomes  a  member  of  her  husband's 
family.  She  assists  her  mother-in-law  in  the  household 
duties.  One  of  the  reasons  given  for  some  of  the  very  early 
marriages  is  that  the  young  woman  may  be  trained  into  a 
suitable  wife  for  the  son  by  his  mother. 

It  is  counted  an  affliction 2  if  the  new  wife  is  not  a  mother 
in  due  time,  and  it  is  a  joyous  occasion  when  a  male  child  is 
born.  There  are  many  parents  who  love  their  girl  babies 
tenderly,  but  they  are  almost  sure  to  be  partial  to  boys,  and 
the  majority  of  parents  are  greatly  disappointed  if  boys  do 
not  make  up  the  larger  part  of  the  children. 

One  day  I  stumbled  into  a  house  where  an  anomalous  con- 
dition of  things  existed  for  a  Christian  village.  On  coming 
away  I  learned  that  the  man  was  a  bigamist.  He  was 
reputed  to  have  become  rich  through  thieving,  and  his  fine 
house  was  childless.  What  did  he  do  but  bring  home  an- 
other wife!  The  laws  of  his  country  were  not  against  such 
a  practise,  but  the  law  of  his  church,  with  the  sentiment  and 
practise  of  his  fellow  villagers,  was  sternly  against  it.  He 
defied  all,  even  though  he  was  cut  off  from  communion.  He 
became  an  object  of  reproach  and  abhorrence  to  the  pious 
1  From  et-Tayyibeh.  2  Gen.  15:  2. 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

and  the  superstitious  of  the  whole  village,  who  looked  for 
terrible  consequences.  A  long  time  afterwards,  some  men- 
tion of  this  man  having  occurred  in  conversation,  I  learned 
that  he  was  without  any  children  by  his  second  wife  also, 
and  that  his  childlessness  was  considered  by  the  villagers  as 
a  token  of  the  wrath  of  God.  Although  rich,  his  lot  was 
considered  miserable  by  the  neighbors.  He  was  said  to  be 
worth  about  fifteen  thousand  dollars.  He  was  accused  of 
having  made  a  business  of  stealing  wedding  finery  from 
festive  and  sleepy  bridal  parties. 

Disappointed  lovers  are  not  unknown  among  the  peas- 
antry. One  young  man  of  a  prominent  family  fell  in  love 
with  the  daughter  of  the  owner  of  a  fig  orchard  next  to  his 
father's  orchard.  For  some  reason,  possibly  the  fact  that 
they  belonged  to  different  tribes  (though  of  the  same  village), 
the  father  of  the  girl  was  unwilling  that  these  two  young 
people  should  marry  each  other.  He  gave  his  daughter  in 
marriage  to  another  youth,  a  member  of  her  own  tribe.  The 
disappointed  young  man  has  never  been  consoled,  refuses  to 
marry  any  other  or  even  to  enter  into  the  social  affairs  of 
his  own  family.  He  lives,  a  recluse,  at  some  distance  from 
his  village  in  one  of  the  valleys.  The  villagers  think  that 
in  time  he  may  become  a  priest. 

Boyhood  and  girlhood  are  shorter  in  Palestine  than  in 
America,  but  often  merry.  Stories  illustrating  the  prefer- 
ence for  boys  among  Oriental  parents  are  plentiful,  but  no 
one  who  examines  the  society  of  the  Orient  will  fail  to  find 
that  it  could  not  well  be  otherwise  without  very  great 
changes.  Boys  increase  the  size,  force,  wealth  and  import- 
ance of  the  family.  When  they  marry  they  bring  home 
their  wives  and  the  children  perpetuate  the  house  of  the 
father.  Should  the  husband  die,  the  wife  and  her  boy 
children  may  be  assisted  by  her  husband's  relatives,  the  boys 
certainly.  Should  the  mother  of  the  boys  marry  again,  the 
boys  go  from  her  to  be  brought  up  by  her  former  husband's 

64 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

family.  Boys  increase  the  house,  girls  decrease  it.  The 
earnings  of  the  father  and  the  sons  go  to  provide  a  substantial 
family  dwelling  and  to  defend  the  house  against  adverse  cir- 
cumstances. Girls  are  sure  to  marry  and,  although  they 
bring  in  a  money  payment  to  their  fathers,  yet  in  every 
other  respect  they  are  a  disadvantage,  as  they  go  to  strengthen 
another  house,  not  the  house  where  they  were  fed  and  reared. 
But  there  is  not  an  iron-clad  observance  of  an  inhuman  rule 
here  as  some  seem  to  imagine.  All  customs  strange  to 
our  Western  ideas  may  surely  be  supposed  to  be  grounded  in 
very  human  causes  and  to  be  very  natural  after  all.  Many 
parents  are  very  fond  of  their  girls.  Relations  through  the 
mother's  family  and  through  sisters  are  often  highly 
esteemed. 

One  evening  two  fatherless  little  girls  belonging  to  a 
Moslem  tribe  in  el-Bireh  were  going  home  from  Ram  Allah 
and  were  caught  in  a  heavy  hail  and  thunder-storm  just 
behind  our  house.  Knowing  that  they  would  be  endangered 
we  went  out  to  bring  them  into  the  house  until  the  storm 
should  pass.  We  found  them  very  frightened  and  cowering 
in  the  poor  defense  of  a  wall.  They  were  soon  quite  happy 
after  we  had  dried  and  fed  them. 

But,  just  as  in  any  other  country,  there  were  anxious 
mother-hearts  a  mile  away  in  el-Bireh,  and  soon  those 
mothers  were  out  in  the  storm,  having  enlisted  two  men  and 
two  boys  in  their  eager  search  for  the  little  girls.  Their 
terror  was  changed  to  keen  pleasure  when  they  found  the 
children  safely  sheltered  from  harm. 

As  the  demands  of  the  tribal  life  become  less  imperative, 
following  the  improvement  of  social  and  general  govern- 
mental conditions,  the  customs  of  the  people  approach  more 
nearly  those  of  other  nations. 

At  the  time  of  the  baby's  birth  one  of  the  neighboring 
women  goes  with  the  good  news  to  the  father.  For  her 
welcome  news  she  may  receive  a  gift  from  him.  The  father 

65 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

also  provides  fruit  and  other  dainties  for  those  who  come  to 
congratulate  him  on  the  birth  of  a  child.  All  this  happens 
in  case  the  child  is  a  boy.  Quieter  times  ensue  on  the  birth 
of  a  little  girl.  The  father  and  mother  are  known  after  the 
birth  of  the  first  son  as  the  father  of  so  and  so  and  the  mother 
of  so  and  so.  For  instance,  Abu  Faris  and  Umm  Faris  are 
the  new  titles  and  practically  the  names  of  the  father  and 
mother  of  the  boy  Faris.  The  child  adds  its  father's  first 
name  after  its  own.  Simon  Bar  Jona  (Simon,  Son  of  Jona) 
was  the  style  of  name  among  the  ancient  Jews.  In  modern 
times  the  Arab  omits  the  word  son  in  common  usage,  thus 
making  the  name  simply  Simon  Jona. 

The  midwife  attends  to  the  dressing  of  the  baby.  She 
rubs  the  little  body  with  salt  and  oil  and  swaddles  it  tightly. 
This  woman  attendant  comes  every  day  for  forty  days  to 
cleanse  and  wrap  the  child.  Woe  betide  the  mother  or  any 
other  meddler  who  interferes  with  the  wrapping  and  other 
peculiar  functions  of  the  midwife,  who  is  very  jealous  of  the 
dignity  of  her  profession.  She  is  mistress  of  her  depart- 
ment and  brooks  no  interference. 

The  Christian  baby  is  ordinarily  baptized  after  the  fortieth 
day.  The  occasion  is  celebrated  with  a  dinner.  Babies  are 
not  weaned  early.  Some  are  nursed  for  two  years,  while 
the  last  baby  may  be  weaned  only  after  it  is  four  or  five 
years  old.  Dainties  are  brought  to  sweeten  the  little  gums 
and  cause  the  weaning  child  to  forget  its  mother's  milk.1 

One  day  we  stepped  into  a  near  neighbor's  to  see  a  new- 
born boy.  He  was  fast  asleep,  wound  and  dressed  in  his 
tight  little  wraps,  and  lying  on  one  of  those  circular  straw 
mats  of  the  kind  used  to  cover  the  wooden  bread  bowl.  The 
mat  in  this  case  was  put  on  top  of  a  round  shallow  straw 
basket  such  as  the  peasant  woman  uses  to  carry  wheat.  The 
whole  was  about  six  inches  high.  The  mother  lay  on  a 
pallet  on  the  floor  beside  it.  Considerable  interest  was  felt 
1  Psalm  131:2. 


THE       PEASANTRY       OF       PALESTINE 

in  the  health  of  this  baby  boy.  There  were  three  girl  chil- 
dren in  the  family,  no  boys,  two  other  boy  babies  having 
died.  Their  death  illustrated  the  saying,  "  Killed  with  kind- 
ness." Being  boys  they  received  more  attention,  that  is 
to  say,  more  pampering,  than  they  would  have  received  had 
they  been  girls.  This  consisted  in  heeding  their  every  wish 
in  the  matter  of  food,  which  was  especially  harmful  in  times 
of  sickness. 

Children  are  the  rulers  of  most  houses  in  the  country 
villages.  They  exceed  in  number  and  dirtiness.  If  they  are 
well  they  run  in  and  out  in  all  kinds  of  weather,  barefooted, 
bareheaded.  If  they  are  unwell,  not  overmuch  attention  is 
paid  to  them  at  first  except  to  bring  them  extras  to  eat.  If 
they  become  dangerously  ill,  all  the  medical  help  within 
reach  is  summoned  in  a  frenzy  of  helplessness.  If  they  re- 
cover, their  convalescence  is  retarded  by  the  same  excessive 
generosity  that  seeks  to  stuff  them  with  whatever  edibles 
they  may  call  for.  An  ordinary  country  parent  is  simply 
unable  to  resist  the  crying  demands  of  a  sick  child,  and 
scarcely  of  a  well  one.  The  more  ignorant  parents  are 
fond  of  encouraging  the  precocity  of  their  children,  even 
teaching  them  to  utter  baby  curses  against  the  members  of 
their  families,  and  laughing  and  patting  the  little  swearers  in 
encouragement. 

The  poorer  children  are  seldom  bothered  with  more  than 
one  garment,  unless  it  be  a  skull-cap.  If  the  parents  are 
more  prosperous  a  little  cloth  cap  embroidered,  and  with  a 
few  bangles  or  blue  beads  sewed  on  the  front,  is  provided. 
As  they  grow  older  the  children  may  gain  a  jacket  over  the 
little  shirt.  The  little  girls  may  have  a  row  of  coins  on  their 
head-dresses  and  a  little  shawl  or  sash  about  them.  On 
festivals  the  little  girl  may  be  allowed  to  wear  her  mother's 
holiday  jacket  or  shawl.  The  shawl  has  to  be  folded  several 
times  for  the  girl's  use.  The  Bethlehem  jacket,  so  commonly 
sought  for  festivals,  is  never  meant  to  be  an  exact  fit  for 

67 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

any  one.     Its  beauty  is  in  its  surface,  embroidered  with 
yellow,  red  and  green  silk. 

The  little  girls  begin  very  early  to  bring  water  in  a  jar  on 
the  head,  first  beginning  with  a  tiny  jar  which  they  steady  by 
the  hands,  and  progressing  until  able  to  carry  the  heavy  full- 
sized  jar  without  the  touch  of  a  hand,  yes,  even  to  carry  such 
a  jar,  weighing  thirty  pounds,  tilted  forward  on  the  head. 
Of  such  a  one,  having  a  strong  muscular  neck,  and  swinging 
forward  gracefully  and  easily,  the  others  may  say  as  they 
point,  "  See,  she  is  strong,  she  can  carry  her  jar  tipped  like 
the  comb  of  a  cock." 

When  very  little,  boys  and  girls  play  together  in  the 
streets  and  around  the  ovens,  sometimes  even  on  the  roofs. 
By  the  time  they  are  six  years  old  they  are  very  apt  to  sep- 
arate and  play  with  their  own  kind  and  to  differ  a  little  in 
their  choice  of  games.  The  older  girls  in  the  families  have  to 
care  for  the  little  children  a  great  deal,  and  have  to  carry 
and  amuse  them.  Boys  and  girls  are  soon  able  to  help  in 
the  vineyards,  or  in  picking  up  olives,  or  gathering  grass  and 
brush,  or  carrying  things  for  older  members  of  the  family. 

The  receipt  for  making  men  and  women  in  Palestine  is  the 
same  as  elsewhere:  Take  boys  and  girls  and  give  them  a  few 
years  of  responsibility  and  you  have  men  and  women.  The 
result  of  these  few  years  of  responsibility  is  to  take  away  the 
freedom  of  play  and  innocency  and  to  add  the  reserve  of 
work  and  insight. 

The  following  story  is  sometimes  told  to  children  to  warn 
them  against  foolish  pride  and  to  inculcate  obedience  to 
fathers. 

A  young  tiger  who  had  heard  about  the  ability  of  men, 
though  he  had  never  seen  one,  felt  so  eager  in  his  strength 
to  have  a  combat  that  he  expressed  to  his  father  a  wish  to 
go  out  and  find  a  man  and  have  a  fight  with  him.  The 
father  tiger  advised  against  such  an  undertaking,  saying, 
"  Even  I  who  am  older  and  stronger  than  you  should  not 


THREE    KINDS   OF   HOUSES — MUD,    DRY-STONE,    STONE-AND-MORTAR 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

think  of  seeking  a  fight  with  a  man,  for  I  could  not  prevail 
against  him."  But  the  proud  young  tiger,  not  heeding  his 
father's  advice,  went  to  seek  a  man.  He  journeyed  until 
he  came  to  a  road  much  frequented  by  travelers  and  lay 
down  under  a  tree  to  await  a  foe.  While  waiting  there  he 
noticed  a  camel  running  down  the  road,  although  loaded 
heavily.  The  camel  was  running  away  from  his  master. 
The  young,  inexperienced  tiger  got  up  and  said  to  the 
camel,  "  Are  you  a  man?  "  The  camel  answered  hastily, 
"  I  am  not  a  man,  but  I  am  running  away  from  a  man, 
because  he  loads  such  heavy  burdens  on  me."  The  young 
tiger  thought  to  himself,  "  How  strong  must  the  man  be  if 
he  causes  so  much  distress  and  fear  in  this  great  creature." 
Next  a  horse  passed,  and  the  tiger  thought,  "  Maybe  this  is 
the  man,"  but  received  a  negative  reply  to  his  question  as  he 
had  from  the  camel.  Then  there  came  along  a  weak  little 
donkey,  loaded  with  wood  and  driven  by  a  man.  The  tiger 
asked  his  question  of  the  man,  "  Are  you  a  man?  "  "  Yes," 
the  man  answered.  Then  the  young  tiger  said,  "  I  have 
come  to  have  a  fight  with  you."  "  All  right,"  replied  the 
man,  "  but  I  am  not  quite  ready  now.  May  I  tie  you 
with  my  rope  to  the  tree  until  I  can  come  back?  "  The 
tiger  allowed  the  man  to  tie  him,  which  the  man  did  very 
securely,  and  then  cut  a  strong,  thick  club  from  the  tree,  with 
which  he  beat  the  young  tiger  cruelly.  The  tiger  cried  out 
in  pain,  "  Oh,  please  let  me  go;  I'll  never  try  to  fight  with  a 
man  again."  Then  the  man  let  him  go  and  the  young  tiger 
went  to  his  father  and  told  his  experience. 

A  bit  of  current  fiction  regarding  Asiatics  is  that  the 
children  are  chronically  unhappy.  Moslem  children  are  the 
especial  victims  of  this  Christian  species  of  prevarication. 
To  such  people  "  children  playing  in  the  streets  of  Jerusalem  " 
belong  to  the  good  time  coming  and  are  the  sign  of  fulfilled 
prophecy,1  despite  the  probable  fact  that  children  have  been 

h.  8:5. 
69 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

playing  in  Jerusalem's  streets  for  some  thousands  of  years, 
whether  tourists  have  seen  them  or  not.  Doubtless,  as  the 
tourist  appears  in  any  street,  playing  ceases  and  small  chil- 
dren flee  or  stand  in  mute  amazement.  The  child  will  prob- 
ably be  happy  again  when  the  apparition  vanishes.  Along 
the  tourists'  route  the  children  are  too  often  taught  to  cry 
out  for  gifts  (bakshish)  and  to  show  themselves  at  a  dis- 
advantage in  order  to  excite  pity.  Moslem  children  some- 
times curse  or  even  attempt  to  stone  travelers. 

A  matter  of  wonderment  to  us  is  the  apparent  immunity 
from  harm  with  which  children  play  on  unprotected  places, 
such  as  roofs  and  about  empty  pits  and  cisterns.  Now  and 
then  we  hear  of  some  accident,  but  rarely.  A  neighbor's 
little  girl,  playing  on  the  flat  housetop,  fell  over  into  the 
street  and  died.1 

One  day  I  saw  some  little  girls  five  or  six  years  of  age 
playing  at  carrying  head  bundles  of  grass  in  imitation  of 
women.  Boys  make  and  play  with  slings  (mikltf)  for  throw- 
ing stones.  When  quarreling,  the  first  impulse  is  for  them 
to  reach  for  a  stone  to  throw.  We  noticed  severe  burns  on 
some  of  the  boys,  near  the  wrist.  Some  of  them  made  huge 
sores  which  roused  our  pitying  concern.  We  found  out  that 
the  wounds  were  self-inflicted,  however,  the  superstitious 
scamps  having  a  boyish  notion  that  burning  the  wrist  or 
forearm  would  insure  for  them  greater  accuracy  in  throwing. 
The  boys  play  horse  vigorously.  They  have  a  game  played 
with  pegs  of  wood  very  similar  to  our  peggy,  in  which  one 
strikes  a  double-pointed  peg  on  one  end  with  a  stick  and 
tries  to  gain  ground  with  an  opponent.  Another  game  is 
played  in  a  soft,  spongy  spot  of  ground  with  longer  pegs 
sharpened  on  one  end  only.  It  is  something  like  playing 
stick-knife.  The  object  is  so  to  drive  the  peg  by  a  throw  into 
the  soft  space  in  the  ground  as  to  dislodge  an  opponent's 
pegs,  previously  thrown,  and  made  to  stick  in  the  same  place. 


1  C/.  Deut.  22:  8. 
70 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

A  game  among  the  boys,  called  'aldm,  is  very  similar  to 
the  game  of  roll  to  the  bat.  The  privileged  player  strikes  a 
ball  with  a  stick  and  drives  it  out  into  a  field  of  other  players. 
The  boy  who  secures  the  ball  tries  to  throw  or  roll  it  so  as  to 
hit  a  stone  marker  ('alam)  set  up  by  the  first  player.  The 
one  thus  aiming  at  the  stone  marker  warns  the  others  to 
stand  aside  and  allow  him  to  play  by  saying  "Duster" 
signifying,  "  By  your  leave." 

The  boys  in  our  school  played  a  game  called  wolf.  A 
circle  of  boys  joined  hands  and  went  dancing  around  while 
one  outside  the  moving  circle,  called  the  wolf,  kept  trying 
to  snatch  one  from  the  circle  of  boys  who  represented  sheep. 
But  whenever  a  boy  in  the  dancing  circle  came  anywhere 
near  the  hovering  wolf  he  let  fly  his  heels  to  prevent  capture. 
As  boy  after  boy  was  snatched  successfully  by  the  outside 
boy  the  circle  grew  smaller  until  but  one  was  left,  who  was 
to  be  the  wolf  in  the  next  game. 

Boys  play  about  the  threshing-floor  and  are  often  in  the 
vineyards  and  gardens.  They  play  many  games  that  are 
either  the  same  or  very  similar  to  those  played  by  boys 
elsewhere.  Such  are  marbles,  duck-on-the-rock,  seesaw, 
swinging,  blindman,  leap-frog  and  hide-and-seek.  In  Ram 
Allah  there  is  a  variation  of  this  last  game  called  khurrak, 
played  by  sides.  There  is  a  game  called  ilktirat  which 
might  well  be  considered  a  primitive  relative  of  golf. 

There  is  as  much  difference  between  the  training  of  the 
children  of  the  better  class  of  peasants  and  the  poorer  in 
Palestine  as  obtains  in  the  differing  grades  of  homes  in  other 
countries.  Most  youths  come  to  exhibit  a  very  admirable 
respect  for  their  elders  and  their  teachers.  They  are  taught 
to  kiss  the  hand  of  their  father  l  or  of  any  guest  who  is 
visiting  him.  They  seldom  interject  their  own  conversation 
or  ideas  into  the  current  of  talk  going  on  about  them,  but 
listen  with  keen  though  modest  attention.  They  are  proud 

1  Cf.  Ex.  20:  12. 
71 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

of  the  standing  of  the  family  in  the  respect  of  the  neighbor- 
hood and  eager  to  learn  their  part  in  the  business  of  life. 

One  father,  a  shaykh  in  his  village,  on  sending  away  a  son 
to  another  village  to  attend  school,  was  gruff  in  manner  for 
some  days  before  the  boy's  departure  and  treated  the  boy 
so  unhandsomely  that  the  mother  protested  and  said  that 
it  was  wrong  to  let  the  boy  go  away  feeling  badly.  In 
explanation  of  his  treatment  of  his  son  the  father  said,  "  Do 
you  love  the  boy  more  than  I  do?  I  am  acting  so  that  he 
will  not  be  homesick." 

A  boy  was  noticed  who  had  a  fiery  temper.  When  in  a 
passionate  fit  of  anger  he  seemed  to  lose  control  of  himself 
and  wished  to  harm  other  boys,  being  restrained  only  by  force. 
An  experienced  mother  in  the  village  who  was  related  to  the 
family  explained  the  lad's  disposition  to  sudden  fits  of  anger 
by  saying  that  when  the  child  was  very  young  the  mother's 
milk  was  scanty  and  the  baby  had  to  be  fed  from  the  breasts 
of  several  different  women  to  help  out  a  little  now  and  then, 
and  that  this  variety  of  breasts  for  feeding  accounted  for  the 
violent  temper  of  the  boy. 

Few  families,  comparatively,  have  what  we  should  call  a 
family  name.  The  nearest  to  it  for  the  generality  would  be 
the  name  of  the  tribe  to  which  the  family  belongs.  The 
tribal  name  is  not  used  except  in  a  formal  or  legal  designation. 
Generally  a  child  bears  two  names,  his  own,  or,  as  we  should 
say,  a  Christian  or  first  name,  followed  by  the  name  of  his 
father.  Thus  the  child  is  given  the  personal  name  Yakub 
(Jacob),  and  if  his  father's  personal  name  is  Ibrahim  (Abra- 
ham), he  goes  by  the  two  names,  Yakub  Ibrahim,  which  is 
equivalent  to  saying,  "  This  is  Yakub,  the  son  of  Ibrahim." 
If  Ibrahim  had  a  daughter,  he  might  name  her  'Azizeh,  and 
she  would  be  'Azizeh  Ibrahim.  Ibrahim's  own  father's 
name  may  have  been  Daud  (David),  so  Ibrahim's  full  name 
would  be  Ibrahim  Daud,  that  is,  Ibrahim,  the  son  of  Daud. 
But  more  likely  Ibrahim's  father's  name  was  Yakub,  the 

72 


THE       PEASANTRY       OF       PALESTINE 

same  names  being  used  often  in  a  family  with  the  omission 
of  a  generation,  so  that  grandfather  and  grandson  may  have 
the  same  name.1  In  such  a  case  the  list  of  names  would  run: 

(Grandfather)  Yakftb  Ibrahim. 

(Father)  Ibrahim  Yakftb. 

(Son)  Yaktib  Ibrahim. 

If  this  boy  should  have  a  son  he  probably  would  be  called 
Ibrahim  Yakub.  Sometimes  one  of  these  names,  say  Ibra- 
him, is  kept  as  a  continuous  family  name,  and  so  ordinary 
names  become  stiffened  into  family  or  house  names.  Occa- 
sionally the  name  thus  taken  may  have  been  that  of  a 
mother  rather  than  a  father.  There  is  the  very  pretty 
custom,  already  mentioned,  that  is  quite  general,  of  calling  a 
man  and  his  wife  after  the  name  of  their  first-born  son.  So 
in  the  above  case  the  father  would  seldom  be  called  Ibrahim 
Yakub,  but  Abu  Yakub,  that  is,  father  of  (the  little)  Yakub, 
and  the  mother,  Umm  Yakub,  the  mother  of  Yakub.  Even 
though  the  child  die  the  parents  will  be  called  henceforth  by 
these  designations,  which  are  esteemed  titles  of  honor.  In 
other  cases  family  names  are  derived  from  trades,  as  Hadad, 
blacksmith;  Banna,  mason;  Bustany,  gardener  or  orchard- 
keeper;  Hajjar,  stone  worker.  Or,  it  may  be  from  a  former 
place  of  residence,  as  Rafidya  (a  village  near  Nablus).  If  a 
member  of  the  family  has  been  a  priest  the  name  of  all  the 
family  and  descendants  is  apt  to  be  Khury.  Some  family 
names  are  hard  to  interpret.  One  of  the  most  frequently 
heard  names  in  the  Lebanon  district  is  that  of  Ma'luf.  The 
word  itself  means  a  fatted  sheep,  but  the  history  of  the 
application  of  the  name  is  obscure  unless  it  was  given  to 
families  possessing  such  animals.  Another  family  name, 
possibly  of  modern  origin,  is  Batato,  or  Batata,  the  second 
form  being  the  same  as  the  word  now  used  for  the  new 
vegetable,  potato,  which  fact  may  explain  the  name,  or  it  is 
possible  that  another  significance  attaches  to  the  term. 


1  Cf.  Luke  1:  61;  2  Sam.  2: 12,  etc. 
73 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

Some  names  are  indicative  of  the  religion  to  which  the 
bearer  belongs.  'Abd  er-Rahman,  Muhammad,  Mahmud, 
Hasan,  Zayd,  would  be  understood  as  being  Moslem  names. 
A  woman  with  the  name  Hajar  (Hagar)  would  be  a  Moslem. 
On  the  other  hand,  Hanna  (John)  for  a  man  (feminine, 
Hannah),  would  be  pretty  sure  to  mark  a  Christian.  Such 
masculine  names  as  Khalil,  Musa,  Diab,  'Aziz,  Ghanim  and 
Farid  would  not  betray  the  religion  of  the  bearer,  nor  such 
feminine  names  as  Helweh,  Aniseh,  Habibeh  and  Sabhah. 

Many  of  the  above  names  and  others  are  very  significant 
when  translated.1  Miladeh  means  that  the  little  girl  bear- 
ing it  was  born  at  Christmas,  which  is  known  as  the  "  Feast 
of  the  Birth  "  ('Aid  el-Milad).  Needless  to  say,  this  little 
girl  was  born  in  a  Christian  family.  Tufahah,  apple,  makes 
a  pretty  feminine  name.  So  also  Farhd,  joy,  and  Nijmeh, 
star.  Not  so  pleasant  are  the  names  Tamam,  complete,  and 
Kafyeh,  enough,  which  mean  that  girl  babies  are  not  wel- 
come in  the  homes  where  such  names  are  given. 

Nicknames  are  often  bestowed  and  often  stick  fast  to 
individuals  and  families.2  We  knew  a  dumb  man  whose 
family  went  by  the  name  Akhras,  dumb.  A  trickster  whose 
cleverness  was  really  admired  and  honored  by  his  fellows  was 
dubbed  esh-Shayt&n,  Satan.  No  more  enviable  compliment 
can  be  paid  a  sharp  business  man  than  this  same  designation, 
Shaytdn.  We  knew  a  little  girl  who,  in  common  with  the 
family,  shared  the  nickname  that  the  villagers  had  given  to 
her  father,  Sarstir  (or  Sursur),  cricket, 

Many  customs  and  much  lore  of  the  people  have  been 
described  from  time  to  time  during  the  past  twenty-five 
years  by  Baldensperger  in  the  Quarterly  Statements  of  the 
Palestine  Exploration  Fund. 


1  Ruth    1 :    20.  2  Cf.  Ish-bosheth. 

74 


THE       PEASANTRY       OF       PALESTINE 


CHAPTER  IV 

HOME   AFFAIRS 

THE  houses  of  the  peasants  show  at  a  glance  the  grade  of 
well-being  in  the  different  villages.  There  are  many  in  the 
lowlands  made  of  mud,  or  a  worse  material,  with  thatch  and 
straw.  But  in  the  hills  stone  is  so  plentiful  that  even  the 
poorest  builder  may  use  it.  The  low,  hutlike,  skifeh  cabin 
is  made  of  loose  stone  piled  up  without  mortar.  The  roof  is 
constructed  of  boughs,  on  which  clay  and  straw  are  laid  to 
make  it  water-tight.  The  usual  stone  house  is  called,  in 
contrast  to  the  above,  hajjar-wa-tin,  that  is,  stone  and  mortar, 
and  is  more  or  less  substantial  according  to  the  hardness  of 
the  stone,  the  care  in  dressing  the  blocks  and  the  proportion 
of  lime  in  the  mortar.  The  arch  for  the  roof  of  such  a  house 
is  usually  so  high  as  to  be  able  to  support  itself  by  its  own 
weight.  The  result,  in  the  typical  house,  is  a  square  box 
room  with  a  lofty  ceiling,  the  walls  being  unrelieved  in  most 
instances  even  by  whitewash.  But  as  this  must  serve  in 
many  cases  for  the  family  and  also  for  such  animals  as  are 
possessed,  or  for  a  living-room  and  a  store  cellar  combined,  an 
extra  floor  is  put  in,  over  most  of  the  room,  from  four  to 
six  feet  higher  than  the  ground.  This  platformed  portion 
may  be  supported  by  small  stone  arches  and  paved  with 
beaten  clay,  or  lime,  or  flat  stones.  From  the  door  stone 
steps  ascend  to  this  living  floor.  In  former  times  these  steps 
were  so  constructed  that  any  shot  from  a  firearm  sent 
through  the  wooden  door  would  strike  them  and  thus  fail  of 
reaching  either  the  people  on  the  platform  above,  or  the 
animals  sheltered  underneath.  Sometimes  there  is  ex- 
cavated under  the  house  a  cistern  to  which  the  rain-water 
from  the  roof  is  conducted.  As  the  family  prospers  and  out- 

75 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

grows  the  accommodations  of  a  single  room,  others  may  be 
built  at  right  angles  on  either  side  around  a  little  court  on 
which  all  the  doors  open.  Still  more  rooms  may  be  added 
above  as  a  second  story,  with  stairs  leading  up  outside.  By 
such  a  process  of  agglutination  the  house  grows,  looking  like 
a  miniature  fort  or  castle,  where  father,  brothers  and  sons 
with  their  families  live  in  patriarchal  unity.  Rooms  with 
inner  connecting  doors  come  as  a  later  refinement  of  the  more 
wealthy. 

In  summer-time  a  little  shady  booth  of  boughs  may  be 
made  in  the  court  or  on  the  roof.  Many  of  the  peasants 
sleep  out-of-doors  fully  half  the  year. 

Within  the  house  the  floor  of  the  living-room  will  be 
covered  in  part  with  straw  mats.  Grain  and  food-bins  made 
of  clay  stand  along  one  side.  Large  jars  stand  back  against 
the  wall  or  in  corners.  One  jar  is  to  hold  spring  water 
brought  for  drinking;  another  will  hold  olives;  and  a  third, 
olive-oil.  There  are  also  wooden  bread-bowls,  straw  covers, 
the  stone  flour-mill,  some  baskets,  a  clay  brazier,  copper 
cooking  vessels  whitened,  sieves,  a  wooden  chest  or  two, 
gaudily  painted,  utensils  for  grinding,  roasting  and  cooking 
coffee,  a  clay  fire-pot  set  in  a  fire-nook,  and  on  pegs  in  the 
wall  a  brass-bound  flint-lock  and  a  water-bottle  made  from 
a  goat's  skin.  A  recess  in  the  wall,  across  which  a  curtain 
is  drawn,  holds  the  bedding.  At  night  the  pallet  bed 
is  spread  on  the  floor,1  the  chief  covering  being  a  quilt 
enclosed  in  a  cotton  case. 

In  a  two-room  house  one  room  will  be  the  kitchen  and 
women's  apartment  and  the  other  the  place  of  entertain- 
ment, where  the  men  chat  and  eat  together.  This  extra 
room  may  have  divan  couches  and  perhaps  an  Oriental  rug 
on  the  floor.  Glass  ndrjilehs  (often  pronounced  drjileh) 
stand  ready  for  the  guests  who  smoke.  This  glass  smoking- 
bottle  and  pipes,  an  outfit  which  foreigners  sometimes  call 

1  John  5:  8,  9. 
76 


HOUSEHOLD    UTENSILS 

1.  Woman's  wardrobe  and  treasure  box.  2.  Rough  straw  basket.  3.  Wheat  basket. 
4.  Vegetable  basket.  5.  Chair.  6.  Groups  of  baskets.  8  and  9.  On  this  shelf  are 
coffee  utensils,  wooden  spoons,  a  wooden  lock  and  a  gourd  bottle.  11.  A  cooking 
vessel  on  top  of  a  wooden  cutting-board.  12.  Bellows.  13.  Wooden  mortar  and  pestle 
for  pounding  coffee  berries.  14.  Short-handled  broom  (From  the  Hartford  Theological 
Seminary  Collection.) 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

the  hubble-bubble,  is  used  by  men  and  some  women  of  the 
well-to-do  classes.  The  common  name  for  it  among  the 
peasants  is  shtsheh. 

Below  is  a  list  of  the  utensils  and  furnishings  commonly 
found  in  houses  of  Palestinian  peasants. 

Khdbyeh,  a  large  store-bin  made  of  clay. 

$anduk,  a  small  box  used  by  the  women  as  a  chest  for  clothing  and 

personal  treasures. 

Tdhtin,  a  stone  mill  for  grinding  wheat. 
Mdkadeh,  an  earthen  fire-pot. 
Kdntin,  a  clay  brazier  on  which  charcoal  is  burned.     Coffee  is  roasted 

and  cooked  over  this  brazier. 
Jurun.  a  mortar. 
Mahbdsh  (mahbdfi,  the  pestle. 

Mahmaseh,  a  rotary  coffee-roaster  of  tin,  turned  by  a  handle. 
Ibrtk,  a  small  pitcher  or  pot. 
Ha?ireh,  a  straw  mat  for  the  floor. 
Mikniseh,  a  short-handled  broom. 
Kuda*  (or  kudah),  a  large  basket,  wide  and  shallow. 
Kuba',  a  tiny  basket  of  the  same  shape. 

$iniyeh,  a  plain  straw  mat  used  as  a  tray  or  as  a  cover  for  the  bdfeyeh. 
Tubuk,1  a  fancy  straw  mat  used  in  the  same  way  as  the  §iniyeh. 
Handbeh,  a  small  clay  eating-dish. 
Kirmiyeh,  a  trencher. 
Bdteyeh,  a  dough-bowl  (of  wood). 
T^s,  an  earthen  bowl. 
Zibdiyeh,  a  larger  bowl. 
funjereh,  a  copper  cooking  vessel,  whitened,  sometimes  used  as  a 

serving-dish. 
Dist,  a  very  large  tunjereh  for  serving  food  to  guests;  also  used  as  a 

pan  in  which  to  wash  clothes. 
Mafttiliyeh,  a  special  dish  for  making  maftdl,  a  paste  that  looks  like 

buckshot.     The  dish  has  a  perforated  bottom  like  a  colander. 
Jarreh,  a  general  name  for  a  jar. 
Ghutdh,  a  cover  of  a  jar  (a  general  name  for  a  cover). 
Mughtds,  a  dipper. 

Dharf,  a  goat  skin  for  fetching  water. 
'Asliyeh,  a  slender  jar. 
Sift,  a  jar  for  oil. 

,    l  Cf.  Arabic  Bible,  Matt.  14:  8.  * 
77 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

Sherbeh,  a  drinking  jar. 

Ghurbdl,  a  wheat  sieve. 

Minkhitl  (corrupted  into  mtikhil'),  a  flour  sieve  made  of  hair. 

Sirdj,  a  lamp. 

Misrajeh,  a  lamp  shelf. 

Khd?eh,  a  knife. 

Sikktneh,  a  knife. 

FinjAn,  a  cup. 

Mughrafeh,  a  ladle. 

Mua'lakah,  a  spoon. 

Watad,  a  peg  driven  into  the  wall. 

KAseh,  an  alcove  for  stowaway. 

Khurrakeh,  a  poke-hole  in  the  wall. 

Firdsh,  a  bed. 

llhAf,  a  quilt. 

Mukhaddeh  (or  wasddefi),  a  pillow,  often  filled  with  tibn. 

Wheat,  the  most  important  item  of  the  well-to-do  peasants' 
food,  has  been  spoken  of  elsewhere.  It  offers  a  scheme  for 
classification  in  welfare.  Those  on  the  level  of  wheat  bread 
and  those  below  that  level  in  life  form  very  readily  dis- 
tinguishable classes.  Bread  made  of  barley  or  of  millet  is 
used  by  the  poorest  people.  The  flour  used  for  most  of  the 
wheat  bread  is  of  graham  quality.  A  lump  of  dough  is 
saved  from  the  mixture  for  the  next  batch.  This  leaven  * 
goes  by  the  name  khamireh.  After  the  early  morning  grind- 
ings  the  dough  is  mixed  in  a  wooden  bowl,  the  woman  gen- 
erally sitting  outside  her  door  on  the  ground.  When  the 
dough  has  been  mixed  the  bowl  is  covered  with  a  straw  mat 
called  the  siniyeh.  When  ready  for  baking,  the  whole,  sur- 
mounted by  a  tiny  little  basket,  kuba,  filled  with  dry  flour 
for  the  hands  when  the  loaves  are  formed,  is  carried  on  the 
woman's  head  to  the  nearest  oven.  One  oven  is  shared  by 
several  neighboring  families.  The  oven  is  within  a  stone 
hut,  or  cabin,  not  much  unlike  the  skifeh,  or  loose  stone 
house,  mentioned  elsewhere.  The  woman  may  have  to  wait 
her  turn  at  the  oven,  as  other  women  may  be  baking  before 

1Matt.  13:33. 

78 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

her.  She  sits  at  one  side  and  chats  with  the  women  and 
girls  about  her  as  she  plies  her  needlework,  sewing  or  em- 
broidery. Being  at  work  and  unobserved,  she  generally  has 
her  head-shawl  thrown  one  side.  The  oven  is  a  domed  pit. 
Inside  the  pit  are  little  stones  on  which  the  cakes  of  bread 
are  baked.  The  clay  dome  has  a  cover  which  may  shut  the 
baking  bread  within.  The  fire  of  grass1,  refuse  from  the  olive 
presses,  twigs  or  caked  dung,  is  built  outside  the  dome,  and 
therefore  does  not  come  in  contact  with  the  interior  when 
the  oven  is  heated  for  baking.  The  cakes  of  bread  are  from 
a  quarter  to  a  half-inch  thick  and  of  the  shape  and  size  of  a 
medium  dessert  plate.  The  hot  stones  give  a  hubbly  surface 
to  the  loaves,  and  as  the  dough  is  not  very  stiff  a  delicious 
warm,  spongy,  graham  bread  results.  The  bread  baked  for 
sale  in  the  shops  is  generally  made  of  lighter  flour  and  the 
loaves  are  smaller  and  sometimes  thicker. 

In  buying  wheat  for  burghul  we  sought  the  best  grade  of 
white  wheat,  paying  three  piasters  a  rutl  for  it,  that  is,  about 
eleven  cents  for  six  and  a  quarter  pounds.  Burghul  is  pre- 
pared as  a  winter  food.  The  wheat,  after  cleansing,  is  boiled 
until  it  is  partly  cooked.  It  is  spread  in  the  sun  and  dried 
and  finally  crushed  in  the  hand-mill  to  the  required  fineness. 
The  favorite  size  is  about  like  broken  rice.  The  chaff-like 
refuse  is  then  blown  off  and,  after  another  cleansing,  the 
burghul  is  ready  for  a  winter  supply.  Crushed  wheat,  called 
jerisheh,  may  be  prepared  and  used  as  a  breakfast  cereal 
would  be  with  us.  Smid  is  the  name  given  to  the  unground 
portions  of  wheat,  called  with  us  semolina,  separated  from 
the  flour  by  the  bolting-machine  of  a  modern  mill. 

The  lentil,2  'adas,  is  considered  by  the  native  peasant  a 
very  nourishing  food.  The  little  seeds  are  reddish  or  brown 
and  are  shaped  like  tiny  eyes  tones.  When  made  into  soup 
the  taste  is  similar  to  that  of  dried  peas.  For  the  winter 
supply  they  are  sifted,  washed  and  given  a  treatment  with 

1  Matt.  6:  30.  2Gen.  25:34. 

79 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

olive-oil  to  prevent  the  attack  of  a  little  fly  called  sus,  which 
eats  out  the  inside  of  the  seeds,  leaving  only  the  shells. 

Rice  is  consumed  in  large  quantities,  but,  as  it  is  an  im- 
ported food,  it  is  bought  as  needed.  A  sack  weighing  two 
hundred  twenty-five  pounds  may  sometimes  be  bought  for 
five  dollars.  A  brand  called  Japanese  rice,  harder  and 
cleaner,  supposed  to  swell  better  and  absorb  less  semen  in 
cooking,  costs  considerably  more.  In  the  markets  one  often 
sees  rice  which  has  been  colored  with  a  red  powder.  Pine- 
nuts  from  the  cones  of  the  snd&er-pine,  which  are  very 
toothsome,  are  often  cooked  with  rice. 

The  olive  fruit  as  it  comes  from  the  tree  is  exceedingly 
puckery  in  flavor.  For  early  eating  the  people  put  the  berries 
into  a  strong  brine,  cracking  them  somewhat  with  stones  to 
hasten  the  curing  process.  For  late  use  the  cracking  of 
the  berries  is  dispensed  with  and  they  are  simply  set  away 
in  the  salt  water.  It  takes  several  months  to  extract  all  the 
bitter  taste  of  the  whole  berries  and  render  them  pleasant 
in  flavor.  The  peasant  much  prefers  ripe  olives  to  green 
ones  for  eating.  Most  people  who  learn  to  eat  ripe  olives 
share  in  this  preference  for  them.  Usually  the  ripe  olive  is 
black,  though  some  varieties  are  not  so.  They  are  very 
nourishing  and  full  of  oil,  while  green  olives  are  a  mere  relish. 
Olive-oil  is  used  very  commonly  as  a  food.  The  purest  grade 
may  be  purchased  as  low  as  the  rate  of  six  cents  a  pound 
when  bought  by  the  jar.  It  is  usually  measured  out  in  a 
heavy  copper  vessel  shaped  like  a  water  jar  of  the  zarawlyeh 
type,  holding  seven  rutls,  or  about  forty-four  pounds,  of  oil. 
These  copper  jars  are  always  very  bright  hi  color,  as  the 
action  of  olive-oil  on  copper  is  sufficient  to  keep  it  perfectly 
clean  from  corrosion.  Those  who  make  olive-oil  have  large 
cemented  cisterns  in  which  to  store  it,  and  as  the  cisterns 
are  not  cleaned  very  often,  and  the  different  grades  are  put 
in  promiscuously,  the  flavor  becomes  disagreeable  to  the 
European  palate,  though  the  peasants  do  not  mind  if  it 

so 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

acquires  even  a  sting  in  taste.  This  defect  in  flavor  is  in- 
creased when  the  heaps  of  berries  are  left  too  long  before 
pressing  them.  They  become  heated  and  more  or  less  rancid, 
and  acquire  the  sting  which  we  think  so  unpleasant.  But 
if  one  is  painstaking,  one  will  learn  where  and  how  to  secure 
some  of  the  first-grade  oil  which  comes  from  the  early  berries 
and  direct  from  the  press.  This  early  oil  is  often  so  delicate 
as  scarcely  to  have  any  distinctive  flavor.  It  is  of  a  light 
greenish  color. 

Much  of  the  inferior  grades  of  oil  is  made  into  a  soap  very 
soft  to  the  touch.  The  Mount  Carmel  soap  is  especially 
well  liked-  A  great  deal  of  soap  is  made  in  Nablus. 

As  has  been  suggested,  the  grape  is  the  choicest  fruit  of 
the  country.  With  bread  and  grapes  many  hundreds  are 
daily  content.  The  native  people  do  not  wait  until  August, 
when  the  first  ripe  grapes  are  to  be  had,  but  enjoy  eating 
green  grapes,  hisrim,  with  salt.  Grape  molasses,  dibs,  and 
grape  marmalade  and  jam,  totleh,  are  prepared  for  winter 
by  the  more  prosperous  households. 

Figs  are  next  in  general  favor  and  are  dried  in  large 
quantities  for  winter  use.1  Some  are  strung  on  strings,  but 
most  of  them  are  pressed  in  bins.  The  black  variety  is 
preferred,  as  it  is  somewhat  richer  than  the  white  and  green 
kinds.  Figs  make  a  hearty  food.  Nothing  more  delicious 
in  the  line  of  fruit  can  be  found  than  large,  fresh  figs  with  the 
morning  dew  yet  on  them.  Fresh,  ripe  figs  are  often  brought 
into  the  village  in  the  little  home-made,  wheat-straw  baskets, 
covered  with  the  strong-smelling  mardmiyeh  leaves.  The 
very  early  fruit  that  precedes  the  regular  crop  by  two  months 
is  called  ddftir  and  is  esteemed  a  luxury.  A  cooked  dish 
of  dried  figs  flavored  with  anise  is  called  khubayseh. 

This  list  of  the  most  common  staples  for  the  peasants'  use 
would  not  be  complete  without  coffee,  which,  while  it  might 
appear  more  in  the  light  of  a  luxury,  is  yet  so  essential  in  a  re- 

1  I  Sam.  30:  12. 
81 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

spectable  household  as  to  be  classed  here  with  the  necessities. 
It  must  be  on  hand  for  guests,  whether  afforded  for  daily 
use  or  not,  and  wherever  men  meet  for  business  or  ceremony 
coffee  is  expected.  It  is  purchased  in  the  raw  berry  at  about 
eleven  cents  a  pound  for  a  good  grade,  and  the  preparation 
of  it  becomes  a  matter  of  personal  accomplishment.  Men 
often  carry  some  coffee  berries  in  their  pockets  for  use  at 
gatherings  with  their  friends.  In  drinking  coffee,  one  cup 
is  frequently  passed  about  among  a  company  of  men,  being 
replenished  for  another  drinker  when  one  has  had  some. 
The  beverage  is  drawn  into  the  mouth  with  a  noisy  sip  that 
both  cools  it,  if  hot,  and  testifies  to  the  drinker's  satisfaction 
/with  the  quality.  When  done  properly  the  business  of 
coffee-making  includes  roasting  on  an  iron  spoon,  pulverizing 
in  a  wooden  mortar  with  a  wooden  pestle,  and  boiling  in  a 
tiny  copper  or  tin  pot  from  which  it  is  poured  into  a  handle- 
less  coffee-cup,  finjdn,  of  about  the  size  of  an  egg. 

To  continue  the  list  of  foods.  Tomatoes,  though  compara- 
tively new  to  the  country,  have  become  a  favorite  vegetable. 
Tomatoes  are  a  summer  crop,  and  acres  of  them  may  be 
seen.  A  cooked  tomato  sauce  is  boiled  down  and  then 
evaporated  in  the  sun  until  of  considerable  density,  when  it 
is  set  away  as  a  winter  seasoning  for  soups,  stews  and  rice. 
Sliced  tomatoes  are  dried  in  the  sun  for  preservation.  The 
fresh  tomato  is  enjoyed  in  salads.  The  price  per  pound  is 
something  less  than  one  cent. 

The  seed  pods  of  okra  or  gumbo,  or,  as  the  peasants  call  it, 
bdmyeh,  are  strung  on  twine  and  dried  for  the  winter  stores. 
It  is  cultivated  in  the  plains  near  Ludd. 

Many  of  the  villages  fail  to  cultivate  garden  vegetables 
in  any  considerable  variety  or  quantity.  They  submit  to  a 
more  monotonous  diet  than  seems  necessary.  Other  vil- 
lages go  into  gardening  extensively.  They  are  villages  with 
superior  facilities  for  irrigating  the  crops.  The  vegetables 
are  retailed  in  the  less  favored  villages,  or,  more  often,  taken 

82 


BREAD-MAKING    UTENSILS 

1.  Wheat  bin.  2.  Stone  mill.  3.  Fine  sieve.  4.  Wooden  bread-bowls.  5.  Straw 
mat  used  as  a  tray  or  as'a  bread-bowl  cover.  6  and  7.  Ovens  made  of  clay,  fire  is  to  be 
built  around  the  outside.  8.  Metal  cooking  plate.  9.  Tiny  basket  for  dry  flour. 
(From  the  Hartford  Theological  Seminary  Collection.) 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

to  the  surer  market  of  the  nearest  city.  Squash,  pumpkin, 
cabbage,  cauliflower,  lettuce,  turnip,  beet,  parsnip,  bean,  pea, 
chick-pea,  onion,  garlic,  leek,  radish,  mallow  and  eggplant 
are  common  varieties.  Of  the  eggplant  it  is  said  that,  since 
there  are  so  many  ways  of  preparing  it,  should  a  woman  say 
to  her  husband,  during  the  eggplant  season,  "  I  know  not 
what  to  provide  for  dinner,"  he  has  a  sufficient  cause  for 
divorcing  her.  Doubtless,  if  he  were  hungry  and  sensible  at 
the  same  time,  he  would  at  least  try  the  expedient  of  getting 
a  dish  of  the  savory  vegetable  before  discharging  the  cook. 
But,  on  the  other  hand,  one  might  quote  the  Arabic  proverb, 
"  Minds  are  lost  with  stomachs."  There  are  two  kinds  of 
cucumber.  The  one  like  our  own  goes  by  the  name  khiydr. 
The  other,  called  fakus,  is  thinner,  longer  and  fuzzy,  and  is 
eaten  without  peeling.  The  buds  of  the  artichoke  when 
boiled  make  a  delicious  dish.  Potatoes  are  getting  to  be 
quite  common  now.  Most  of  them  are  still  imported,  but 
probably  more  and  more  success  will  be  met  in  raising  a 
native  crop. 

A  pleasant  little  story  is  told  of  how  potatoes  may  have 
first  come  to  Jerusalem.  Sister  Charlotte,  a  Kaiserswerth 
deaconess,  was  for  fifty  years  in  mission  work  in  Jerusalem. 
At  the  time  of  her  death  in  1903  she  was  the  revered  head 
of  the  German  Orphanage  for  girls  in  the  city.  When  the 
Emperor  Frederick,  then  Crown  Prince,  visited  Jerusalem, 
he  accepted  an  invitation  to  dine  with  Sister  Charlotte  and 
the  other  German  sisters.  He  asked  them  what,  of  all 
things,  they  would  like  from  Germany.  They  said  that  they 
thought  potatoes  would  be  their  choice.  Two  barrels  of 
potatoes  were  the  result  of  this  incident,  and  Sister  Charlotte 
thought  that  these  were  the  first  potatoes  in  Jerusalem.  It  is 
to  be  regretted  that  this  is  not  the  place  to  go  into  a  thorough 
appreciation  of  the  work  of  these  blessed  women  who,  in  hos- 
pital, school  and  other  Christian  service  in  the  East  have 
performed  a  most  gracious  ministry  of  Christian  womanliness. 


THE       PEASANTRY       OF       PALESTINE 

The  milk  of  the  flocks  is  made  into  butter,  and  that  in 
turn  is  often  cooked  down  into  what  we  should  call  clarified 
butter,  but  which  the  Arabs  call  semen.  It  will  keep  a  year 
and  is  much  used  in  cooking,  especially  in  preparing  rice. 
There  is  a  very  pleasant,  cooling  preparation  of  milk  called 
leben,1  which  is  thick  and  has  a  slightly  acid  taste.  It  looks 
like  junket.  A  little  of  it,  when  put  into  slightly  warmed 
milk  and  set  away  in  a  warm  place  for  a  few  hours,  will  make 
leben  of  the  milk.  The  process  is  one  of  partial  digestion 
and  makes  a  wholesome  food  for  invalids,  particularly  for 
those  suffering  from  fevers.  Lebbeneh  is  strained  leben  to 
which  a  little  salt  has  been  added.  It  is  a  sort  of  com- 
promise between  butter  and  cheese.  A  cream  cheese,  jiben, 
is  made  in  square  cakes  averaging  the  size  of  a  man's  hand. 
These  cakes  are  put  away  in  brine  for  keeping  and,  when 
needed,  are  soaked  in  hot  water.  Many  meals  are  made  of 
wheat  bread  and  cheese.  Hard,  dried  leben,  pressed  into 
little  balls,  may  be  kept  for  months.  It  is  then  called  kishk. 
When  they  are  to  be  used  the  balls  are  cracked  into  little 
fragments  and  soaked  in  water. 

Eggs,  mutton  and  goat's  meat  are  obtainable  in  most 
villages.  For  game,  the  gazel,  pigeon,  quail  and  partridge, 
as  well  as  smaller  birds,  are  shot  and  used  by  a  few  of  the 
peasants.  For  those  who  live  near  the  Sea  of  Tiberias 
(Galilee),  the  fish  there  found  add  to  the  variety.2  In 
parts  of  Palestine  locusts  are  eaten.3  They  are  usually 
dried  or  roasted.  A  story  and  a  proverb  are  mentioned 
concerning  the  vigor  and  spryness  of  these  insects.  A  man 
who  was  in  great  haste  and  yet  wished  something  to  eat 
caught  a  locust  and,  holding  it  by  the  legs,  roasted  it  over  a 
fire.  He  didn't  wait  to  do  it  very  thoroughly  before  he  put 
it  in  his  mouth.  Fearing  that  it  would  burn  him  he  delayed 
shutting  his  teeth  together  on  it.  The  moment  he  loosened 
the  grasp  of  his  fingers,  therefore,  away  went  the  locust. 

fudges  4:  19;  5:25.          2  Matt.  4: 18.  3  Matt.  3:  4. 

84 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

Now  for  the  proverb:  "Aflat  min  jaradeh,"  which  means, 
"  Better  at  escaping  than  a  locust." 

Baked  dishes  are  not  common  among  the  peasantry. 
Boiling,  roasting  and  frying  are  the  common  modes  of  pre- 
paring food.  Kibbeh  is  a  mixture  of  meat  and  burghul, 
bruised  together  in  a  mortar  until  it  becomes  a  jellied  mass, 
when  it  is  pressed  into  pans,  scored  off  into  cakes  and  fried 
with  semen.  Maklubeh  is  a  preparation  of  rice  and  egg- 
plant cooked  in  a  deep  dish,  and,  when  served,  turned  out, 
upside  down;  whence  the  name,  which  means  "  turned  over." 
Keftah  is  a  meat  cake  fried  in  semen,  not  very  different  from 
Hamburg  steak.  Mujedderah,  or  'asideh,  is  a  mixture  of 
rice  and  lentils.  Sometimes  fried  onion  scraps  are  served 
with  it. 

A  favorite  vegetable  called  ktisd,  which  looks  like  a  cu- 
cumber and  tastes  like  our  summer  squash,  is  often  hol- 
lowed out,  stuffed  with  meat  and  rice  and  boiled.  Here  is 
a  combination  of  fruit,  flesh  and  vegetable  worth  trying:  A 
roll  of  tender  grape-leaves  stuffed  with  rice  and  meat  and 
then  boiled.  It  makes  a  little  sausage-like  affair  of  which  a 
Scotch  professor  said  that,  if  there  were  sausages  in  Paradise, 
they  would  be  of  this  kind.  The  natives  call  all  stuffed 
dishes  of  these  sorts  mahshy,  stuffed.  A  mahshy  made  of 
eggplant  is  called  shaykh  el-mahshy,  the  chief  of  the  mahshys. 
Kids,  lambs  and  chickens  also  are  stuffed.  With  some  of 
these  mahshys,  leben  sauce  is  served  and  with  others  lemon- 
juice. 

Salads  of  all  kinds  are  enjoyed  by  the  people.  Humus 
Vtehineh  is  made  from  dried  chick-peas  boiled,  mashed  with 
olive-oil  and  flavored  with  tehineh.  Tehineh  is  a  mixture  of 
olive-oil,  serej  and  some  sour  substance,  either  vinegar  or 
lemon-juice. 

Caraway,  anise,  thyme  and  mint  are  used  as  seasonings. 

The  common  cooking  fats  are  semen,  olive-oil  and  serej, 
the  latter  being  a  rich  cooking  oil  made  from  simsim  seeds. 

85 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

An  out-of-door  luxury  is  the  new  parched  wheat,1  called 
friky,  when  immature  heads  are  roasted,  and  kaliyeh,  when 
ripe  grain  is  roasted.  The  peculiar  milk  of  a  fresh  goat  or 
sheep,  curdled  a  little,  by  being  placed  over  the  fire,  and 
sweetened,  is  considered  a  dainty.  Cooked  sheep's  brains 
are  a  delicacy  and  very  nourishing. 

The  fruits  of  Palestine  are  many.  The  better  known 
varieties  are  the  grape,  orange,  lemon,  apricot,  plum,  pome- 
granate, quince,  citron,  watermelon,  cantaloup,  date,  mul- 
berry and  medlar.  This  last  mentioned  fruit  is  known  by 
the  Turkish  name  akydunya,  literally,  the  next  world.  The 
cherry  and  peach  find  a  congenial  climate  in  the  country. 
The  apple  and  pear  do  not  thrive  so  well  in  Palestine  as  in 
the  neighborhood  of  Damascus.  Of  apricots  there  are  sev- 
eral varieties.  A  large  sweet  kind,  of  which  the  seed  pit 
has  a  taste  similar  to  the  almond  nut,  is  called  for  that 
reason  lozeh.  Another  kind  is  called  kldby,  and  yet  another 
mestkdwy.  Apricot  leather  is  displayed  in  large  sheets  in 
the  markets.  From  pomegranates,  of  which  there  are  at 
least  three  flavors,  sweet,  medium  and  sour,  and  from 
lemons,  drinks  are  prepared.  Distilled  orange-flower  water 
is  esteemed  as  a  flavoring  extract.  A  little  of  it  in  water 
is  good  for  a  sour  stomach. 

Of  nuts  there  are  the  almond,  pistachio  and  walnut.  The 
almond  is  frequently  eaten  green,  when  the  kernel  is  in  a 
milky  state  and  the  whole  nut  with  its  shell  is  tender. 
Chestnuts  and  peanuts  are  imported.  Melon  and  pumpkin 
seeds  are  eaten.  Sesame,  or  simsim,  seeds  are  sprinkled  over 
cakes.  Partially  ripened  chick-peas,  roasted  on  the  stems, 
are  very  much  liked.  Mulabbas,  which  simply  means  cov- 
ered, generally  refers  to  sugar-coated,  roasted  chick-peas. 
These  roasted  peas  without  the  sugar  are  called  ikddmehj  or 
kaddmeh. 

Jellies  are  called  totleh.     They  are  often  served  to  guests, 
1  Josh.  5:  11;  Ruth  2:  14. 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

in  such  cases  being  offered  before  the  coffee,  which  must 
always  be  the  last  of  any  number  of  refreshments.  A  dish 
of  jelly  or  jam,  with  several  spoons  and  a  tumbler  of  water,  is 
passed  around.  Each  guest  takes  a  spoon  and  helps  himself 
to  a  taste  of  jelly,  then  puts  the  soiled  spoon  into  the  vessel 
of  water. 

The  people  are  very  fond  of  honey.  Many  kinds  of  pastes, 
cakes  and  confections  have  honey  as  a  prominent  ingre- 
dient. Some  of  them  seem  very  cloying  to  the  unaccus- 
tomed Western  taste.  Heldweh  and  midabbas  are  the  very 
common  confections  in  the  villages.  The  first  looks  like 
light-colored  molasses  candy  and  comes  in  bulk.  It  is  used 
as  a  food  with  bread.  It  is  made  from  the  root  of  the  simsim 
plant,  the  oil  of  which  imparts  to  it  its  peculiar  flavor. 
There  is  a  local  hit  to  the  effect  that  "  the  people  of  Nablus 
eat  their  sweets  first."  The  word  used  to  express  satisfaction 
with  a  flavor  is  zdky,  which  is  equal  to  our  colloquialism,  "  it 
tastes  fine,"  or  the  German,  "  grossartig."  A  rebuke  of  an 
inordinate  appetite  is  apparent  in  the  proverb,  "  Let  a  dog 
take  a  taste,  but  not  a  son  of  Adam  [i.  e.,  a  man]." 

The  list  of  foods  should  include  some  of  the  many  varieties 
of  edible  wild  growths.1 

Khurfaysh  is  a  plant  with  a  little  notched  leaf  having 
milk-white  veins.  The  edible  stalk  that  grows  up  from  the 
center  is  very  delicious  and  refreshing  when  tender. 

Murrdr,  a  bitter  herb,  looks,  during  its  early  growth,  a 
little  like  the  dandelion.  Later  it  develops  a  thorn. 

Kurs  'anneh  bears  a  small  leaf  suitable  for  salad. 

Humaydeh  has  a  leaf  with  red  veins  and  a  red  back.  It  is 
used  less  commonly  than  the  others. 

Dhanbat  faras  (tail  of  a  mare)  looks  like  young  onion 
leaves. 

Hasak  is  used  more  especially  for  cows,  and  halibet  es- 
sukdl  is  fed  to  the  kids  when  milk  is  scarce.  It  yields,  when 

1  C/.  2  Kings  4:  39. 
87 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

broken,  a  thick  milky  juice.  The  fruit  of  the  cactus  or 
prickly-pear  is  yellow,  seedy  and  sweetish.  For  some  reason 
or  other  the  name  for  this  plant,  in  Arabic,  and  the  word  for 
patience  are  the  same,  subr.  This  cactus  fruit  is  much  es- 
teemed. A  story  is  told  of  a  man  with  a  prodigious  appetite 
for  it  who  was  going  along  by  the  hedges  of  prickly-pear  near 
Ludd  and  followed  by  some  cows  which  ate  up  the  peelings 
of  the  fruit  as  he  dropped  them.  The  story  says  that  the 
cows  had  to  stop  eating  the  peelings  before  the  man's  appetite 
for  the  fruit  had  been  fully  gratified.  This  is  only  a  sample 
of  the  many  stories  told  about  great  eaters. 

The  carob-pod  is  chewed.1  It  has  a  flavor  like  that  of 
sweetened  chocolate.  Green  carob-pods  may  be  cooked  in 
a  toothsome  way  with  milk. 

A  receipt  for  making  "  Turkish  Delight."  The  first  essen- 
tial is  a  perfectly  clean  cooking  dish,  as  the  secret  of  good 
Turkish  Delight  is  to  prevent  burning  or  sticking.  One-half 
pound  of  corn-starch,  three  pounds  of  sugar  and  ten  cups  of 
water  are  to  be  used.  The  corn-starch  is  to  be  dissolved  in 
two  cups  of  water  and  strained.  The  remaining  eight  cups 
of  water,  hot,  and  the  sugar  are  to  be  made  into  a  syrup. 
When  the  syrup  is  almost  at  the  boiling  point,  clear  with  the 
white  of  an  egg,  skim  off,  add  the  juice  of  a  half  lemon  and 
strain  through  a  cloth.  Pour  the  corn-starch  solution  into 
the  hot  syrup,  stirring  continually,  and  allowing  the  mixture 
to  boil  until  very  thick,  an  hour  if  necessary,  stirring  all  the 
time  to  prevent  sticking  to  the  bottom.  This  constant  stir- 
ring during  the  cooking  is  very  important.  Blanched  alm- 
onds and  the  flavoring  (generally  mistkd  gum)  are  put  in 
just  before  taking  the  dish  from  the  fire.  The  whole  is  then 
poured  into  a  large  shallow  tin  into  which  fine  sugar  has  been 
sifted.  When  the  paste  has  cooled  it  may  be  scored  and  cut. 

There  is  almost  no  drinking  of  alcoholic  liquors  among  the 
peasantry.  On  the  feast-days  the  convents  offer  'arak,  a 

1  Luke  15:  16. 
88 


THE       PEASANTRY       OF       PALESTINE 

native  grape  brandy,  to  callers.  The  increasing  influence  of 
foreigners  tends  to  an  increase  of  drinking  customs  in  the 
cities  and  the  extension  of  such  habits  into  the  country  vil- 
lages. This  influence  comes  through  the  foreign  ecclesiastics 
in  the  convents,  monasteries  and  patriarchates,  business  and 
travel,  and  sometimes  the  example  of  missionaries.  Among 
Moslems  the  habit  of  using  ardent  liquors  is  supposed  not  to 
exist,  but  an  aged  official  of  wide  experience  told  me  that  he 
knew  of  two  hundred  fifty  Moslems  in  Jerusalem  who  were 
hard  drinkers,  and  that  the  Turkish  officials  as  a  class  were 
taking  up  the  custom  rapidly.  Said  a  poor  Moslem  girl  in 
Hebron  despairingly  of  her  brother,  who  had  taken  up  with 
the  drinking  habit,  "  Why,  my  brother  drinks  like  a  Chris- 
tian! "  Of  an  inveterate  and  shameless  toper  the  Arabs  say 
that  "  he  would  drink  from  his  shoe." 

The  custom  among  the  country  people  is  to  eat  out  of  a 
common  dish.1  If  it  contains  rice  the  food  is  rolled  into 
balls  and  put  into  the  mouth  with  the  fingers.  The  bread 
is  held  on  the  knee,  as  one  sits  in  squatting  posture,  and  bits 
are  torn  from  it.  With  these  bits  of  bread  the  food  may  be 
dipped  up,  especially  if  it  be  oil  or  leben.  Portions  of  meat 
are  taken  with  the  fingers.  A  wooden  spoon  is  sometimes 
used.  When  guests  are  eating,  the  women  of  the  family  are 
not  present,  but  often  eat  in  another  place  and  use  the  re- 
mains of  the  men's  feast.  In  the  field  the  workers  gather 
around  the  dish  that  has  been  brought  from  the  village. 
They  may  be  sitting  in  the  broiling  sun.  It  is  customary  to 
invite  the  passer-by  to  the  repast. 

The  first  meal  of  the  day  is  not  usually  taken  until  the 
middle  of  the  forenoon,  and  is  a  light  one.  The  second  one, 
at  or  after  noon,  may  be  heartier.  The  evening  meal  is  the 
best.  Meat  is  almost  a  luxury,  the  increase  in  its  use  denot- 
ing progress  in  prosperity. 

Almost  any  discriminating  person  will  decide  for  the  native 

1  Cf.  Matt.  26:  23. 
89 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

peasant  costume  as  more  modest,  graceful  and  artistic  than 
the  European  styles.  One  feels  disappointed  and  defrauded 
at  sight  of  a  villager  togged  in  European  trouserings.  The 
village  woman  descends  in  the  scale  of  attractiveness  just  so 
far  as  she  submits  to  the  fashion  of  Western  dressmaking. 
Stockings  are  seldom  worn  by  the  country  people  when  they 
are  in  vigorous  health.  At  best  the  stocking  is  an  unsanitary 
snare.  Men  generally  wear  the  roomy  shoe  having  buffalo 
rawhide  from  India  for  the  soles  and  a  red  or  brown  goat- 
skin for  the  uppers.  Women  seldom  wear  shoes  inside  the 
village  for  fear  of  ridicule.  When  they  are  out  in  the  rough 
places  they  wear  the  same  kind  of  shoe  as  the  men. 

The  fully  dressed  felldh  (peasant)  has  in  his  outfit   the 
following  articles: 

Dimdyeh,  or  kumbdz,  a  long  dress  or  tunic. 

Shirihah,  a  girdle  studded  with  the  razdt,  which  are  ornaments  like 

little  silver  buttons. 
§adriyeh,  a  vest. 
fuk^ireh,  a  small  blue  jacket  made  of  jtikh,  a  blue  cloth.     Sometimes 

a  European  jacket  is  worn  or  a  sheepskin  is  used. 
'Abdh  (colloquial,  'abdyeh),  a  homespun  woolen  overcoat,  striped. 
$irmdyeh,  a  shoe,  heavy  or  light  according  to  the  season. 
Leffeh,  a  general  name  for  the  entire  head-dress. 

The  leffeh  consists  of  the  following  parts: 
fukiyeh,  a  cotton  skull-cap. 

Libbdd,  a  skull-cap  of  woolen  felt  put  on  over  the  cotton  one. 
farbiUsh,  a  hat  proper,  usually  a  red  fez-like  head-covering,  broad  and 

flat,  put  on  over  the  tukiyeh  and  libbad. 

Scarfs  are  wound   around   the  rim  of   the  tarbush  so  as  to  make  a 
very  heavy  border  (a  thin  scarf  helping  to  pad  out  a  heavier  one). 
Mendil,  a  thin  scarf  used  under  a  heavier  one. 
Mahrameh,  a  white  heavy  scarf. 
Kefiyeh,  a  yellow  and  fancy  variety  of  scarf. 

In  the  leffeh  or  head-dress  are  tucked,  for  convenience  in  carrying, 
the  following  articles: 
Mir  At,  a  mirror  (a  tiny  glass). 
Misht,  a  comb  for  the  beard. 
Ma§?d§at,  a  cigarette  holder. 

90 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

DukMn,  tobacco. 

Khalkat  (offal),  a  ring  (yellow)  for  the  thumb  (bahim). 

Khatim  (fudat),  a  seal l  ring  (silver)  for  the  little  finger  (khanaset). 

Dubleh,  a  guard. 

All  these  small  articles  following  are  in  or  about  the  girdle  or  belt: 
Ghdb,  a  cartridge-belt. 
Shibriyeh,  a  dirk  carried  in  the  belt. 
$ifn,  tow. 

ZinAreh,  a  steel  for  igniting  the  tow  in  striking  a  light. 
$uwaneh,  a  flint. 
Mils,  a  clasp  knife. 
Zaradeh,  a  chain  to  which  the  knife  is  attached. 

The  fellahah  (peasant  woman)  wears  the  Khurkeh,  an  em- 
broidered dress  of  linen  crash,  with  silk  stitching.  Over  this 
dress  she  wears  the  Khalak,  or  Tab,  a  long  veil  of  the  same 
material  as  the  Khurkeh.  But  she  is  mostly  distinguished 
by  the 

Ukd,  a  head-dress  which  is  a  snug  little  bonnet  of  cloth  embroidered 
and  heavily  decorated  with  coins. 

$affeh,  a  row  of  coins  over  the  top  of  the  head  on  the  bonnet. 

Shakeh,  a  row  of  coins  or  bangles  across  the  forehead. 

Izndk,  a  coin  of  especial  value  which  hangs  by  a  chain  from  the  head- 
dress, under  the  chin. 

This  head-dress  is  bound  into  the  hair  by  strings  and  is 
worn  night  and  day. 

In  the  division  of  household  labor  the  man  goes  to  the 
market,  field  or  on  the  road  with  the  animals,  leaving  almost 
all  the  work  about  the  house  to  be  done  by  women  and 
children.  Indeed,  these  may  often  be  called  upon  to  assist 
in  carrying  to  or  from  the  market,  in  watching  on  the 
threshing-floor  or  in  the  vineyard  and  orchard,  in  helping 
harvest  the  crops  or  in  gleaning,  sifting  and  cleaning  grain. 
Children  sometimes  carry  food  to  the  workers  who  are  at  a 
distance.  The  man  may  make  repairs  about  his  house,  if 
skilful  enough  to  do  so.  He  drives  the  bargains  and  settles 
1  Gen.  38:  18. 

91 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

business  matters.  Upon  the  woman  falls  most  of  the  work 
of  the  household.  It  is  often  hard  and  long  because  of 
primitive  methods  and  scanty  means.1  The  older  girls  may 
help  considerably,  especially  by  taking  much  of  the  care  of 
the  children.  The  woman's  day  begins  early  with  the  grind- 
ing of  flour  for  bread.2  She  probably  cleaned  the  wheat  on 
the  previous  afternoon  while  there  was  light.  Grinding  can 
be  done  in  the  early  morning  before  daylight.  The  woman 
sweeps  and  cleans  and  cooks  food  for  the  family.  She  makes 
long  trips  into  the  uncultivated  country  about  the  village  to 
bring  home  head- loads  of  brush,  thorns  or  grass.  She  must 
make  daily  trips  at  least,  and  sometimes  several  a  day,  to 
the  spring,  or  possibly  to  a  cistern,  for  the  water  supply. 
She  often  keeps  chickens.  Gardening  is  the  man's  work, 
though  the  woman  must  often  help  in  the  little  plot  if  there 
be  one.  Now  and  then  a  woman  may  find  time  to  attend 
to  her  personal  appearance.  If  her  dress  of  linen  crash  be 
soiled  she  may  take  it  with  other  washing  to  the  spring  or 
cistern.  She  first  soaks  her  clothes  and  then  laying  them  on 
a  rock  pounds  out  the  dirt  with  a  short  club.  If  the  silk 
embroidery  on  the  dress  makes  it  unadvisable  to  wet  the 
cloth,  she  rubs  off  the  dirt  with  bread-crumbs.  She  occa- 
sionally gets  an  opportunity  to  take  off  her  head-dress  of 
coins,  clean  the  coins  and  comb  out  and  wash  her  hair,  or 
she  may  do  the  similar  service  of  washing  and  head-cleaning 
for  her  children. 

The  peasant  women  are  sometimes  skilful  in  embroidering 
in  silk,  with  a  cross-stitch,  on  linen  and  on  cotton.  They 
make  a  good  deal  of  basketwork  from  wheat  straw,  which 
they  dye  a  brilliant  blue,  green,  red,  purple  and  brown. 
Cooking  dishes,  platters,  bowls  and  jars  are  made  of  clay  by 
the  women.  The  women  of  any  village  keep  to  the  making 
of  such  vessels  and  shapes  as  they  have  learned  best.  The 
Allah  women  make  a  reddish  jar  of  huge  size  orna- 
1  Cf.  Luke  10:  40.  2  Matt.  24: 41. 

92 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 


men  ted  with  a  brown  painted  band  of  a  basketwork  pattern. 
This  jar  is  known  colloquially  as  jarreh.  The  smaller  size 
goes  by  the  same  name  or  else  by  the  term  hisheh.  Hish  is  a 
kind  of  red  stone  that  is  pulverized  to  make  jar  material. 
The  long  jar  that  is  used  for  carrying  water  from  the  spring 
to  the  house  is  called  zarawtyeh.  The  zarawiyeh  zerka  is  a 
product  of  Gaza,  and  the  zarawiyeh  baydeh  of  Ramleh  and 
Ludd.  Another  large  variety  of  jar  is  called  zir.  Any  tiny 
jar  used  as  a  drinking  vessel  or  for  cooling  drinking  water 
may  be  called  sherbeh.  The  little  milk  jars  with  a  very  wide 
mouth  are  called  kuz  or,  by  the  fellahin,  chtiz. 

The  peasant,  when  well  fed,  clothed  and  sheltered,  is  a 
fine  specimen  of  physical  humanity.  When  ill  he  is  miser- 
able indeed,  and  greatly  to  be  pitied.  Hospitals  and  other 
European  helps  are  assisting  of  late  where  but  a  short  tune 
ago  there  was  nothing  but  native  ingenuity.  Even  now  the 
very  poor  can  hardly  be  said  to  be  supplied  with  adequate 
assistance.  In  the  more  backward  villages,  farther  from 
centers  where  physicians  and  dispensaries  are  available,  the 
most  curious  shifts  are  made  to  drive  off  disease  and  win 
health.  Among  Moslems  and  Christians  similar  means  are 
taken.  Mothers  pray  at  shrines  and  sacred  trees,  tying  up 
bits  of  rag  to  keep  the  prayers  in  the  minds  of  the  saints  who 
have  been  invoked.  It  takes  kindliness  and  patience  to  win 
over  the  poorest  and  most  suspicious  of  the  sick  peasantry. 
And  it  will  take  more  than  that  to  secure  suitable  nursing 
for  invalids. 

One  child  of  Christian  parents  wore  a  bone  from  a  wolf's 
snout  about  the  neck  as  a  charm.  It  was  the  gift  of  the 
paternal  grandmother.  A  wolf's  jaw-bone  is  a  potent  charm. 
A  Moslem  said  that  the  wolf  was  a  friend  of  his  family  and 
that  if  one  killed  a  wolf  with  a  knife  and  then  wrapped  the 
knife  in  a  handkerchief  or  other  cloth  it  would  prove  effica- 
cious in  time  of  sickness.  For  instance,  if  a  child  were  ill 
with  a  cough  it  was  only  necessary  to  draw  the  back  of  the 

93 


THE       PEASANTRY       OF       PALESTINE 

knife-blade  across  the  throat  in  imitation  of  cutting  and  say, 
"Allah  and  the  wolf,"  "Allah  and  the  wolf/'  then  make  a 
noise  like  the  growl  of  a  wolf  and  the  child  would  be  well. 
The  many  superstitious  remains  of  primitive  religious  notions 
are  usually  preserved  among  the  women  of  the  land. 

Slips  of  paper,  with  verses  from  the  Kuran  written  on  them, 
are  soaked  in  water  and  the  drink  administered  to  patients 
by  the  very  ignorant.  Burning  and  bleeding  are  frequently 
resorted  to.  More  nauseating  practises  are  the  utilization 
for  medicinal  purposes  of  the  froth  that  forms  at  the  mouth 
of  a  maniac,  or  of  a  derwish  (dervish)  who,  in  the  excitement 
of  his  exercises,  has  fallen  down  insensible.  It  is  considered 
proper  for  the  friends  of  the  sick  to  call,  and  sometimes  the 
room  where  the  patient  is  lying  is  full  of  talking  neighbors.1 
Fortunate  is  it  if  some  of  them  be  not  smoking  as  well  as 
making  a  noise.  Figs  are  used  as  'drawing  plasters.2  For 
soreness  of  the  gums  or  teeth  a  dry  fig  is  heated  and  laid  on 
the  spot.  A  relic  of  the  days  of  quacks  is  found  in  the 
proverb,  "Ask  one  who  will  try  and  not  a  doctor."  Doubt- 
less the  next  proverb  in  order  would  be  the  one  running, 
"  Patience  is  the  key  of  relief."  Of  palsy  the  peasants  say, 
"  Palsy,  then  don't  doctor  it." 

The  following  data,  taken  from  accounts  of  medical  assist- 
ance rendered  to  inhabitants  of  a  score  of  villages  in  the 
country  about  R£m  Allah  for  a  year  are  suggestive  of  the 
distribution  of  ailments.  Leaving  out  of  the  account 
wounds,  the  chief  ailments  were  classified  under  fevers,3 
malaria  and  typhus,  with  gastric  troubles  nearly  akin.  Then 
comes  the  second  group  of  troubles,  with  influenza  and 
pneumonia.  Third  in  frequency  was  rheumatism.  Enteric 
troubles  were  rarely  mentioned.  Eye  troubles  are  common, 
but  the  physician  is  not  resorted  to  as  frequently  as  would  be 
supposed.  A  few  cases  of  abscess,  dropsy  and  eczema  were 
mentioned.  May  and  June,  October  and  November,  brought 

1  Job  2: 11.     2  2  Kings  20:  7.    3  Matt.  8: 14. 

94 


IN   A    DOOR  YARD.      WOMEN    CLEANING   WHEAT 


ON    TOP   OF   AN   OVEN.      WOMEN   SIFTING    WHEAT 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

numerous  cases  of  fevers.  January  and  March  exceeded  in 
pulmonary  affections,  though  they  were  pretty  generally  met 
with  throughout  the  year.  Autumn  is  a  very  unhealthy 
season.  The  dust  blowing  about  the  villages  in  the  high 
winds  is  laden  with  abundant  filth  in  pulverized  form. 
Sunstroke  is  not  unknown  among  the  natives.1  The  reapers 
in  the  Gh6r  are  often  stricken  with  deadly  fever,  probably 
because  of  the  poor  water  supply,  hot  sun,  cold  nights  and 
irregular  meals.  Contagious  skin,  scalp  and  eye  diseases  are 
to  be  dreaded.  Because  of  the  lack  of  facilities  and  knowl- 
edge in  the  care  of  children  convalescing  from  measles, 
husbeh,  that  disease  is  much  feared,  and  the  mortality  among 
the  young  is  great.  The  typhoid  cases  in  the  country  are 
long  and  tedious,  though  not  perhaps  so  violent  as  with  us. 
Leben  makes  an  ideal  food  for  the  patient. 

Certain  of  the  fountains  of  the  country  are  provided  with 
a  more  or  less  capacious  catch-basin  from  which  animals  as 
well  as  people  may  drink.  The  fastidious  are  not  to  be 
blamed  if  they  insist  on  seeing  their  own  drinking  water 
taken  from  the  actual  flow  of  the  spring  and  under  such  con- 
ditions as  shall  not  subject  them  to  the  washings  of  other 
people's  mouths.  Often  at  such  places  leeches  thrive  in  the 
water,  and  where  they  are  known  to  abound  the  natives 
seldom  let  their  animals  drink  if  other  available  water  be 
near.  People,  too,  are  often  bothered  by  the  leeches  lodging 
in  the  sides  of  the  mouth  or  throat.  Those  that  are  swal- 
lowed cause  no  inconvenience,  but  when  tiny  leeches  lodge 
in  the  side  of  the  throat  and  grow  to  an  uncomfortable  size 
they  have  to  be  extracted.  One  day  I  was  lunching  with  the 
local  physician,  Dr.  Philip  Ma'luf,  when  a  poor  woman  from 
el-Bireh,  not  finding  him  at  the  dispensary,  sought  him  at 
his  home.  She  was  troubled  with  a  leech  which  had  grown 
to  uncomfortable  size  in  her  throat  and  was  using  up  too 
much  of  the  blood  needed  in  her  system.  After  the 

1  2  Kings  4:  19. 
95 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

parasite  was  removed  she  haggled  about  the  price  of  the 
operation. 

At  another  time  I  saw  a  little  girl  sitting  on  a  chair  in  the 
sun  in  front  of  the  doctor's  dispensary.  The  doctor  said  that 
her  leech  was  too  difficult  of  observation  and  approach  with 
his  tweezers,  but  that  in  the  warm  sun  it  would  be  tempted 
within  reach. 

Medical  assistance  in  the  form  of  hospital  or  dispensary 
facilities  is  now  offered  at  Hebron,  Jaffa,  Gaza,  Jerusalem, 
Nablus,  Nazareth,  Tiberias,  Safed,  Haifa,  es-Salt  and  Kerak. 
To  these  places  the  peasantry  come  from  the  country  about, 
bringing  their  ills  for  treatment  at  the  hands  of  foreign 
physicians.  From  the  country  around  Nablus,  for  instance, 
many  patients  come  to  receive  the  skilful  attention  of  the 
surgeon  at  the  Church  Missionary  Society  Hospital  in  the 
city.  Among  these  cases  are  many  suffering  with  diseased 
bones. 

The  medical  department  of  the  American  College  at  Beirut 
is  an  exponent  of  modern  medical  science  for  all  Syria. 
There  native  physicians  are  trained  in  medicine  and  phar- 
macy and  go  to  all  parts  of  the  Turkish  empire,  Egypt  and 
the  Sudan.  The  European  hospitals  in  the  country  are  in 
charge  of  expert  physicians  assisted  by  well-trained  nurses. 

Here  and  there  one  meets  dumb  people.  In  Ram  Allah 
is  a  dumb  man,  the  well-to-do  father  of  a  considerable  family. 
He  is  keen,  alert  and  very  skilful  at  making  himself  under- 
stood by  motions. 

The  blind  are  receiving  some  attention.  Schneller's  school 
in  Jerusalem  makes  provision  for  them.  Miss  Lovell,  an 
English  woman,  has  a  small  school  for  blind  girls  where  she 
works  assiduously  for  their  welfare.  The  French  Roman 
Catholic  Sisters  care  for  some. 

The  first  hospital  asylum  in  all  Syria  for  the  humane  and 
scientific  treatment  of  the  insane  was  founded  a  few  years  ago 
and  first  opened  to  patients  August  9,  1900.  It  is  just  a 

96 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

short  drive  out  of  Beirut,  at  a  place  called  'Asfuriyeh,  within 
the  Lebanon  government  district.  Its  founders  are  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Theophilus  Waldemeier.  Mr.  Waldemeier  was  for  over 
twenty  years  the  superintendent  of  the  English  Friends' 
Mission  at  Brummana  and  other  stations  in  Mount  Lebanon. 
Advancing  years  seemed  to  make  it  wisest  that  he  should 
relinquish  the  many-sided  mission  work.  With  his  wife  he 
planned  a  world  tour  in  the  interests  of  a  work  which  he  had 
thought  over  for  many  years.  While  friends  were  advising 
and  expecting  him  to  take  a  deserved  rest  he  began  to  plan 
for  this  new  enterprise,  which  he  sweetly  calls  his  "  evening 
sacrifice  ";  a  hospital  for  the  right  treatment  of  the  insane, 
of  which  the  country  has  many.  The  Waldemeiers  visited 
successfully  in  Europe  and  America  and  returned  with  funds 
to  build.  They  found  a  fine  property  of  over  thirty  acres 
belonging  to  one  of  the  effendtyeh  class  of  natives,  a  Moslem 
who  was  in  need  of  funds  and  good  enough  not  to  make  too 
hard  terms  with  these  philanthropists.  In  the  first  two 
years  the  institution  treated  two  hundred  twenty-seven 
patients  and  sent  away  thirty-six  patients  recovered. 

Mr.  Waldemeier  and  his  gifted  wife  treated  us  with  the 
greatest  cordiality,  when  we  called  on  them,  and  showed  us 
detail  after  detail  of  the  work,  the  new  building  and  so  on, 
just  as  if  they  were  enthusiastic  devotees  of  an  interesting 
new  game;  and  so  they  are  devotees  of  the  old,  the  ever  new 
game,  of  doing  good.  A  large,  well-equipped  administration 
building,  another  for  women  patients  and  still  another  one 
for  men  were  already  up  and  fully  used,  forty  patients  at  a 
time  being  the  capacity.  A  new  building  was  being  erected 
to  be  used  for  the  most  violent  cases.  The  story  of  some 
cases  is  a  sad  one.  A  surgeon  of  the  Egyptian  army  was 
with  us  as  we  inspected  the  wards  where  the  women  patients 
are  kept,  filled  mostly  with  young  girls.  He  said,  "  I  never 
saw  anything  so  sad.  The  wounded  and  the  dying  on  the 
battle-field  do  not  make  me  feel  like  this."  The  causes  of  the 

97 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

troubles  of  these  sufferers  are  various.  Ten  distinct  kinds 
of  mania  are  recorded  on  the  books,  among  them  cases  re- 
sulting from  alcoholic  excess,  from  typhoid  fever  and  those 
that  are  hereditary.  No  patients  are  received  unless 
there  is  reasonable  expectation  of  their  recovery  under 
treatment. 

The  nurses  and  attendants  in  the  women's  ward  seemed 
to  be  much  interested  in  their  charges  and  to  develop  a 
real  affection  for  them.  There  are  no  bonds  in  the  whole 
institution.  The  severe  cases  are  put  to  bed.  As  soon  as 
their  condition  will  warrant  it  they  are  set  to  work  at  some- 
thing that  will  keep  them  busy,  laundering  or  helping  in 
various  ways  about  the  institution,  always  with  ample 
supervision.  One  bright-faced  patient  possessed  with  the 
notion  that  the  devil  was  in  her  nose  made  that  mem- 
ber the  object  of  her  constant  thought,  keeping  it  always 
covered. 

We  saw  a  large,  powerfully-made  man  standing  behind  the 
iron  grating  of  one  of  the  men's  windows.  He  was  an  alco- 
holic case  who  was  sent  away  from  the  hospital  at  one  time 
apparently  cured,  but  fell  into  the  old  ways  again  and  now 
is  hopeless,  incurable. 

Some  of  the  patients  come  to  the  hospital  in  a  most 
wretched  state  of  filth.  Some  come  loaded  with  the  chains 
that  the  ignorant  country  people  have  put  on  them.  Some 
have  been  isolated  in  caves  and  scantily  fed,  some  have  been 
beaten.  Some  have  been  made  to  drink  water  in  which 
written  texts  of  the  Kuran  have  been  soaked.  Many  are  the 
ways  with  which  the  superstitious  natives  would  treat  these 
unfortunates.  Sometimes  the  insane  are  looked  upon  with 
superstitious  awe  as  of  an  order  other  than  ordinary  human 
beings  and  to  be  invoked.  At  other  times  the  people  are  said 
to  beat  them  in  order  to  drive  out  the  demon,  but  more  often, 
according  to  their  own  saying,  they  let  them  pretty  much 
alone.  "  For,"  say  they,  "  God  has  touched  him;  that  is 

98 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

enough;  leave  him  alone."1  All  through  the  country  this 
unconscious  fraternity  lives  its  life  apart  from  men.  Only 
their  bodies  are  in  contact  with  the  world  of  reality.  They 
are  fed  or  beaten,  caged  or  prayed  to,  in  turn.  We  saw  one 
of  these  unfortunates  who  had  been  groveling  in  a  fit  on  the 
street  in  Jerusalem  near  the  Jaffa  Gate.  He  had  a  small 
cord  drawn  through  a  fleshy  place  in  his  abdomen,  by  work- 
ing which  back  and  forth  well-meaning  spectators  had  caused 
considerable  blood  to  flow,  thinking  to  relieve  him.  We  have 
seen  them  wandering  in  the  streets  of  Damascus  with  the 
freedom  of  the  city,  all  making  way  for  them;  and  well  they 
might;  we  did,  too,  for  I've  never  seen  human  beings  more 
unutterably  filthy.  In  the  village  of  'Ayn  'Arik  there  was 
a  dumb  maniac  who  went  about  naked.2  He  was  credited 
with  being  a  wily,  or  holy  man.  Families  having  a  sick 
person  among  them  would  sometimes  send  him  presents  of 
roast  stuffed  fowls  and  secure  from  the  wily  some  of  his 
hairs,  which  they  would  burn  near  the  patient,  hoping  there- 
by to  effect  a  cure. 

The  leprous  generally  congregate  outside  the  cities  and 
follow  the  trade  of  begging.  Hospitals  and  asylums  are 
provided  for  them,  but  many  of  them  prefer  the  freedom 
which  puts  them  obnoxiously  in  the  way  of  those  who  can 
be  teased  for  alms. 

Death  among  the  peasantry  is  an  occasion  for  long  mourn- 
ing. The  body  is  wrapped,  and  placed  in  the  ground  and 
protected  from  the  falling  earth  as  well  as  may  be  by  the  use 
of  stones.  On  the  top  of  the  grave  the  heaviest  stones  ob- 
tainable are  packed  to  make  it  difficult  for  the  hyenas  to 
secure  the  body.  It  is  customary  to  watch  the  grave  many 

1  Cf.  1  Sam.  21:  12-15;  Matt.  8:  28.  There  is  now  a  Hebrew  asylum 
for  the  treatment  of  the  insane  patients  of  that  race  in  Jerusalem 
called  'Ezrath  Nashim.  It  is  supported  by  the  Woman's  Aid  Society. 
See  description  of  it  by  the  American  consul  at  Jerusalem,  Dr.  Selah 
Merrill,  in  The  Christian  Herald,  New  York,  January  10,  1906.  2 1  Sam. 
19:  24. 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

nights  to  keep  these  creatures  away.1  The  more  advanced 
peasantry  try  to  secure  a  wooden  coffin  for  the  body  about 
to  be  buried.  The  natives  are  capable  of  much  tenderness 
and  consideration  at  these  sad  times.  The  many  bearers 
take  turns  assisting  in  the  carrying  of  the  body  on  the  way 
to  the  grave.  Visitors  from  other  villages  come  to  assist  in 
the  mourning  for  the  deceased.  They  are  provided  with 
food  and  shelter  while  they  remain.  The  public  mourning 
lasts  as  long  as  visitors  continue  coming  to  offer  condolences, 
which  may  be  for  many  days.  At  weddings  the  singers  are 
men,  but  at  funerals  the  women  perform  the  part.  The 
same  native  melody  is  used  on  both  occasions.  The  death 
of  a  young  man  is  an  occasion  for  especial  grief,  since  so 
many  family  hopes  and  prospects  are  thereby  disappointed. 
A  prop  and  stay  in  the  tribe  is  withdrawn  and  the  calamity 
is  very  severe.  The  women  are  sometimes  seen  on  the 
threshing-floor  marching  slowly  round  and  round,  wailing 
out  the  dirge.  One  of  the  saddest  cases  that  came  under 
my  observation  was  that  of  a  young  man  who,  leaving  his 
family,  emigrated  to  America  in  search  of  fortune.  While  in 
Monterey,  Mexico,  he  heard  of  the  death  of  an  uncle  in  the 
home  village  and  grieved  over  it.  He  was  taken  ill,  probably 
with  yellow  fever,  went  to  the  hospital  and  died  there  in  a 
short  time.  When  the  news  reached  Rdm  Allah  the  grief 
was  keen.  It  is  customary  at  such  a  time  for  the  women 
to  go  either  to  the  threshing-floor  or  the  cemetery  to  mourn.2 
But  in  this  case,  as  the  man  was  buried  far  away,  the  women 
assembled  on  a  small  piece  of  ground  that  was  owned  by 
some  of  the  tribe  where  there  was  a  fig-tree.  They  sat  under 
this  talking  until  the  company  increased  to  over  forty  women. 
They  had  all  left  their  head-dresses,  ornamented  with  coins, 
at  home,  and  their  hair  fell  in  disheveled  condition  over 
their  necks  and  shoulders.  Some  of  them  had  daubed  their 

1  Job  21:  32.  2C/.Time:  Gen.  50:  3;  Num.  20:29.   Manner:  Deut.  14: 
1;  2  Sam.  3:  31;  12: 16;  18:  33;  Eccles.  12:  5;  Jer.  6:  26;  9:  17;  22:  18. 

100 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

faces  with  soot.  Some  were  dressed  in  their  oldest  and 
poorest  clothing;  one  had  on  a  fancy  Bethlehem  costume, 
but  her  disordered  hair  was  bound  with  crepe.  A  circle  was 
formed  and  the  women  marched  to  the  accompaniment  of 
the  mourning  song.  Now  and  then  a  few  would  break  from 
the  circle  into  the  middle  and,  tossing  their  arms  above 
their  heads,  perform  a  funeral  dance.  The  name  of  the 
deceased  was  Butrus  (Peter)  and  the  widow's  name  was 
Na'meh  (Naomi).  The  following  is  a  translation  of  the 
words  which  the  women  sang  at  the  time: 

O  door  of  the  house,  fall  down 

For  one  who  went  and  did  not  return] 

For  one  who  left  his  wife, 
A  trust  remaining  with  me. 

Butrus  in  the  distant  country  calls, 

"  O,  Hanna,  take  me  back  to  my  country." 

The  gun  appears,  but  the  lion  appears  not; 
Lo,  the  strap  of  the  gun  is  damp  with  mist. 

The  gun  appears,  but  the  lion  comes  not; 
Lo,  the  strap  of  the  gun  is  dripping  with  misu 

(At  the  time  of  the  burial) 
O  my  sorrow,  there  are  his  people; 
Early  were  they  at  the  burial  place. 

Early  rose  the  sexton  for  the  burial, 
And  the  harim  is  soiled  with  dust. 

The  women  of  his  kindred  rend  their  finery 
For  Butrus  who  sank  into  the  grave. 

The  women  of  his  kindred  tear  their  coverings, 
Because  Butrus  is  left  in  America. 

(Impersonating  Butrus) 
Don't  take  me  down  into  the  ships, 
My  sister  on  the  seashore  is  grieving. 

Don't  take  me  down  to  the  foreign  ships, 
My  sister  on  the  seashore  is  calling. 
101 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

(The  mourners) 

O  my  sorrow,  they  went  on  the  seas  and  remained: 
Oh,  I  wonder  how  they  are,  have  they  changed? 

O  my  sorrow,  they  went  on  the  seas  and  stayed  the  night: 
Oh,  I  wonder  how  they  are,  or  are  they  dead? 

Bring  me  knowledge,  O  great  bird,  O  little  one; 
America,  is  it  far  away  and  without  a  wall? 

Bring  me  knowledge,  O  bird,  O  birds; 
America,  is  it  far  away  and  without  measure? 

Greet  them,  O  bird,  O  pigeon, 

In  their  far  country  setting  up  the  tents. 

(Impersonating  Butrus) 

On  the  shore  of  the  sea  the  gazels  are  browsing; 
Oh,  the  descent  to  the  ship,  it  is  bad. 

On  the  shore  of  the  sea  the  gazels  are  airing; 
Oh,  the  descent  to  the  ship,  it  is  bitter. 

On  the  seashore,  wondering  whither  to  turn, 
Appear,  O  Na'meh!  the  ship  goes. 

At  the  hospital  I  am  thirsty,  I  want  to  drink; 
Bid  me  good-by,  my  brother,  the  ship  goes. 

(The  mourners) 
Write  on  the  flat  slate, 
"  Thy  time  camej  what  could  we  do,  my  spirit?  " 

Write  on  the  flat  marble, 

"  Thy  time  came;  what  could  we  do,  my  precious  one?  " 

O  scribe,  writing  with  a  costly  pencil, 
Greet  the  absent  one  and  clasp  hands. 

(Impersonating  Butrus) 
Thy  robe  is  long,  Na'meh,  cut  from  it; 
Have  slight  regard  for  fine  appearance  when  we  are  gone. 

Thy  robe  has  a  long  trail; 
Have  little  care  for  fine  style  when  we  are  gone. 
102 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

(The  mourners} 

The  tassel  on  his  head-gear  dangles; 
Tell  his  mother  to  continue  mourning. 

The  tassel  on  his  head-dress  droops; 
Tell  Na'meh  to  quit  fine  dressing. 

(Introducing  the  refrain  at  the  mill) 
Say  to  us,  O  Na'meh,  in  the  night, 
"  How  often  have  I  worn  the  best  of  silk!  " 

Say  to  us,  O  Na'meh,  in  the  afternoon, 
"  How  often  have  I  worn  Egyptian  silk!  " 

(Closing) 

O  ye  strangers  bearing  the  coffin, 
Wait  until  his  family  arrive. 

O  ye  strangers  bearing  the  coffin, 
Wait  until  his  kinsfolk  come. 

The  grave  of  Butrus  by  the  road  is  in  neglect; 
He  wants  a  guide  to  lead  him  home. 

This  beginning  of  public  mourning  was  on  November  23. 
On  December  14  the  funeral  services  were  held  in  the  village 
church,  just  as  if  the  deceased  were  there.  But  the  public 
mourning  did  not  cease  as  long  as  visiting  mourners  from 
other  villages  came  to  condole  with  the  family.  It  is  cus- 
tomary for  women  in  mourning  to  forbear  changing  or 
washing  their  dresses  for  months. 

Graves  are  usually  bordered  with  heavy  broken  stone 
partly  sunken  into  the  earth.  For  shaykhs  and  notables  an 
oblong,  box-like  structure  of  stone  and  mortar  is  built  over 
the  grave,  and  perhaps  a  headstone  erected,  with  an  in- 
scription in  Arabic.  The  variety  in  the  ornamentation  of 
graves  is  very  considerable,  especially  in  different  districts  of 
the  country. 

Egypt  was  suffering  from  an  epidemic  of  cholera  in  the 
summer  of  1902.  The  news  of  cholera  in  Egypt  makes  one 

103 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

apprehensive  lest  through  carelessness  the  disease  should  be 
brought  into  Palestine,  although  the  quarantines  are  sup- 
posed to  be  enforced  strictly  on  all  lines  of  communication 
by  sea  or  land.  Toward  the  last  of  September  the  rumor 
got  about  that  cholera  was  in  the  country  and  that  cases 
had  appeared  as  near  as  Hebron,  twenty  miles  south  of 
Jerusalem.  By  the  middle  of  October  rumor  was  persistent 
that  Ludd  and  Jimzu  were  affected  by  the  fell  disease. 
English  physicians  in  Jaffa  published  and  circulated  a  poster 
instructing  the  people  as  to  means  of  prevention.  The 
Jerusalem  government  issued  orders  to  the  villages  to  clean 
the  village  streets  and  burn  up  the  refuse.  This  would  be 
a  boon  under  any  circumstances.  The  city  streets  were  put 
into  an  excellent  condition  of  cleanliness.  Whitewash  was 
freely  used  on  the  walls  of  the  buildings,  especially  in  the 
Jewish  quarter.  In  a  day  or  two  Jaffa  was  reported  to  be 
infected  by  the  cholera  and,  as  the  days  went  by,  rumors 
came  from  one  after  another  village  that  it  was  attacked  by 
the  scourge,  which  the  natives  call  the  yellow  air.  They  give 
it  this  name  because  of  their  belief  that  it  is  a  pestilential 
breath  traveling  in  the  air.  One  day,  when  the  refreshing 
west  wind  was  blowing  up  from  the  sea,  a  peasant  in  our 
village  expressed  the  hope  that  the  wind  would  change  soon, 
as  he  feared  that  it  might  bring  up  the  yellow  air  from  the 
infected  villages  down  in  the  Mediterranean  plain.  This 
ignorance  of  the  real  nature  of  the  disease  accounts,  together 
with  a  fatalistic  carelessness  about  observing  the  right  pre- 
cautions, for  the  awful  hold  that  it  gets  on  anEastern  country. 
It  thrives  best  in  the  lowland  country  and  least  in  the  high- 
lands, not  being  supposed  to  ascend  over  two  thousand  feet 
with  any  likelihood  of  persistence.  But  it  was  often  carried 
to  greater  heights,  causing  much  anxiety.  Hebron,  for  in- 
stance, is  over  three  thousand  feet  above  sea-level.  The 
bacillus  has  its  greatest  opportunity  in  running  water,  as  at 
springs.  In  order  to  attack  the  human  being  it  must  enter 

104 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

the  alimentary  canal,  usually,  of  course,  by  the  mouth.  A 
weakened  constitution,  excessive  fear,  nervousness  and 
ciills  from  great  or  sudden  changes  of  temperature,  make 
f&vorable  conditions  for  its  seizure  of  the  individual.  It 
usually  begins  with  a  diarrhea,  which,  if  unchecked,  is 
r&pidly  succeeded  by  the  peculiar  cholera  discharges  and  a 
piysical  collapse  that  is  as  complete  as  the  weakness  in- 
duced by  days  and  weeks  of  other  severe  diseases.  Relief 
has  to  be  prompt,  the  temperature  restored  and  the  dis- 
charges checked  very  soon  in  order  to  afford  any  reasonable 
hope  of  recovery.  Most  foreigners  escape  attack  by  attend- 
ing very  strictly  and  conscientiously  to  the  proper  pre- 
cautions and  heeding  early  indications,  without  allowing 
themselves  to  be  disturbed  by  unnecessary  fears.  But  they 
should  be  personally  sure  that  only  cooked  food  is  eaten, 
no  raw  fruit  or  vegetables ;  that  all  water,  for  whatever  pur- 
pose destined,  be  boiled,  whether  it  is  to  be  drunk  or  used  to 
wash  the  person,  hands,  face,  teeth  or  body,  or  used  to  wash 
clothing  or  dishes.  When  cholera  is  in  the  vicinity  unboiled 
water  should  not  be  used  for  any  purpose. 

The  people  in  our  own  village  prohibited  the  approach  of 
any  persons  from  the  village  of  Ludd.  These  local  prohibi- 
tions through  the  country  multiplied,  making  a  set  of  quar- 
antines that  prevented  travel  and  trade  in  many  of  the 
country  districts.  Our  native  village  physician  was  taken 
by  the  government  and  placed  in  charge  of  the  quarantine 
station  at  Bab  el- Wad,  which  is  on  the  Jerusalem-Jaffa  car- 
riage road.  The  railroad  trains  between  Jaffa  and  Jeru- 
salem were  forbidden  to  stop  anywhere  between  Bittir  and 
Jaffa.  Some  friends  in  Jerusalem  feared  to  come  out  to 
visit  us,  only  ten  miles  away,  for  fear  that  quarantine  might 
be  imposed  at  any  moment,  thus  preventing  their  return  to 
the  city.  However,  that  necessity  did  not  arise  during  the 
whole  time  the  disease  was  in  the  country.  But  to  the  north 
of  us  we  were  cut  off  from  Nablus,  to  the  east  from  the 

105 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

Jordan  country,  to  the  west  from  the  villages  and  cities  in 
the  plain.  Jerusalem  was  cut  off  from  Hebron  on  the  south. 
To  have  cut  us  off  from  Jerusalem  would  have  made  a  very 
tiny  island  of  our  neighborhood.  So  long  as  we  were  pirt 
of  the  large  island  of  which  Jerusalem  was  the  center,  and 
our  district  remained  free  of  the  scourge,  we  were  in  a  very 
happy  case  compared  with  what  might  happen  any  day.  The 
peasantry  in  the  villages  west  of  Jerusalem  depend  a  good 
deal  on  the  sale  of  vegetables,  fruit,  bread  and  milk  in  the 
city,  but  soldiers  prevented  them  from  coming  in  to  pursue 
their  usual  business. 

October  closed  with  very  conflicting  reports  as  to  the 
nature  of  the  sickness  that  was  taking  the  people  off,  some 
declaring  that  it  was  not  cholera,  but  only  similar;  that  it 
was  this  and  that  other  thing.  The  governor  called  to- 
gether the  merchants  of  Jerusalem  and  urged  them  to  main- 
tain regular  prices,  but  they  replied  that  this  was  their 
opportunity.  He  forbade  any  rise  in  wheat.  However, 
prices  on  most  foodstuffs  and  imported  supplies  began  to 
rise.  The  train  service  on  the  Jaffa-Jerusalem  line  was  dis- 
continued. People  rushed  to  the  shops  in  the  city  and  bought 
up  canned  goods  and  groceries.  Camphor  rose  in  price  also, 
as  the  natives  bought  it  to  make  little  camphor-bags,  which 
they  would  smell  frequently.  Men  were  stationed  out  on 
the  paths  leading  to  our  village  to  prevent  the  entrance  of 
people  from  suspected  districts.  In  Jaffa  some  deaths  were 
reported  in  the  dirty  section  about  the  boat  landings.  Gaza 
reported  the  highest  mortality,  forty  a  day.  Some  of  the 
inhabitants  of  Gaza  moved  out  on  the  seashore  and  lived 
hi  tents.  No  deaths  occurred  among  them.  Ramleh  set 
about  providing  its  own  cordon,  and  although  it  was  very 
near  some  of  the  worst  of  the  afflicted  places,  it  kept  itself 
free  from  the  epidemic.  Some  Gaza  men  who  essayed  to 
reach  Jerusalem  were  put  under  arrest. 

By  November  5  the  general  impression  was   that  the 

106 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

cholera  was  lessening  its  violence.  The  people  of  Ludd 
were  getting  straitened  for  food.  The  hospital  and  medical 
service  of  Miss  Newton  of  Jaffa  were  a  great  blessing. 
She  sent  medical  assistance  to  the  people  in  Ludd  also 
and  was  very  prompt  in  getting  in  food  supplies  to  the 
quarantined  villagers.  The  dearth  of  food  in  Hebron 
threatened  to  cause  a  rise  of  prices  beyond  the  reach  of  the 
poor.  But  some  of  the  officials  wishing  to  come  to  Jeru- 
salem, the  quarantine  was  lifted  for  a  day  to  accommodate 
them,  when  some  wheat  slipped  into  Hebron  from  Jerusalem. 
In  Jaffa  the  English  church  was  open  twice  a  day  for  special 
prayers  for  the  cessation  of  the  cholera. 

We  were  greatly  saddened  toward  the  middle  of  November 
by  the  news  that  Mrs.  Torrance,  wife  of  the  physician  in  the 
Scotch  Mission  at  Tiberias,  had  fallen  a  victim  to  the  cholera. 

Some  travelers  who  were  having  hard  work  getting  through 
the  country  on  account  of  the  crisscrossing  of  the  quaran- 
tines, were  in  a  hotel  in  Nazareth  when,  during  the  night,  a 
man  came  up  to  that  hotel  from  Tiberias  and  developed  a 
case  of  cholera.  The  hotel  guests  found  in  the  morning  that 
they  were  quarantined  in  the  house.  By  the  earnest  use  of 
talk  and  money  they  got  the  privilege  of  passing  the  time 
of  their  quarantine  in  some  tents.  They  feared  that,  if  they 
remained  in  the  hotel  and  more  cases  developed,  their  de- 
tention might  be  lengthened  indefinitely. 

Some  Jifna  men  who  had  been  in  Jaffa  for  weeks  evaded 
the  quarantine  regulations  and  returned  to  their  village, 
which  was  one  hour  north  of  us.  Their  own  relatives  were 
the  first  to  drive  them  back  with  stones.  The  neighbors 
reported  the  facts  to  the  police  in  Jerusalem  and  soldiers 
came  out  and  shut  up  the  quarantine  jumpers  in  caves  until 
they  could  be  returned  to  the  quarantine  station  at  Bab 
el- Wad  to  pass  the  legal  number  of  days. 

On  November  18  we  heard  of  a  man  who  had  come  from 
es-Salt  to  Jerusalem  and  died,  of  cholera  apparently,  in 

107 


THE       PEASANTRY       OF       PALESTINE 

Khan  es-Sult£n.  This  was  the  cause  of  some  worry,  but  no 
cases  resulted.  On  the  19th,  as  we  were  thinking  that  the 
colder  weather  would  check  the  disease,  we  heard  that  it 
had  increased  considerably  in  Jaffa.  On  November  20  our 
village  physician  returned  for  a  short  visit  to  disprove  to 
his  family  the  report  that  he  had  succumbed  to  the  cholera. 
He  had  about  a  dozen  or  fourteen  people  in  quarantine  at 
Bab  el-W&d,  who  were  taking  that  tedious  way  of  journeying. 
The  government  provided  tents  at  two  and  a  half  or  three 
francs  per  day.  Each  person  secured  his  own  food  by  post 
carrier  from  Jerusalem  or  elsewhere.  The  claim  is  now 
made  that  the  cholera  got  into  the  country  through  the 
faithlessness  of  the  quarantine  official  south  of  Gaza.  He  is 
accused  of  having  let  through  seven  thousand  persons  at  a 
bishlik  (eleven  cents)  apiece.  The  story  of  how  the  cholera 
entered  Kubab  is  illustrative.  That  village  and  the  village 
of  Barriyeh  use  the  same  fountain  for  water,  the  'Ayn 
Yerdeh.  Cholera  was  in  Barriyeh,  and  one  mother  who  had 
lost  a  little  child  wished  to  keep  its  garments.  She  took 
them  to  the  'Ayn  Yerdeh  to  wash  them.  Very  soon  a  score 
of  Kub&b  people  were  victims  of  cholera,  and  three  hundred 
in  all  died  in  that  village.  The  doctor  reported  the  people 
in  the  villages  as  very  eager  for  instructions  and  obedient  in 
observing  them  when  the  disease  was  at  its  height.  He  says 
that  there  were  no  tears,  only  great  desire  to  escape  the 
dreadful  enemy.  He  went  to  the  different  villages  near  his 
station  and,  standing  outside,  summoned  the  shaykhs  and 
chief  villagers  within  hearing  distance,  where  he  exhorted 
them  to  use  the  necessary  precautions.  The  Moslems  have 
the  custom  of  washing  the  corpses  of  their  dead.  This  con- 
tributed much  to  the  spread  of  the  disease,  as  the  flushings 
of  water,  vile  from  the  body  of  the  cholera  victim,  carried 
the  germs  all  about  the  house  floor  and  infected  a  consider- 
able space.  The  physician's  orders  were  to  bury  the  de- 
ceased, clothing  and  all,  and  cover  with  six  baskets  of  dry 

108 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

lime.  Then  all  articles  used  or  defiled  by  the  sufferer  were 
to  be  burned. 

Friday  evening,  November  21,  some  Jaffa  Christians 
sought  to  flee  from  their  city  and  come  to  Ram  Allah,  but 
the  Ram  Allah  people  drove  them  back  with  threats  and 
stones.  Some  of  the  Ram  Allah  people  recommended  a 
cordon  for  all  roads  about  the  village,  but  the  poorer  in- 
habitants declared  that  they  could  not  stand  the  increased 
price  of  living  that  would  ensue.  December  3  we  heard 
that  some  Constantinople  physicians  had  visited  Jaffa  and 
declared  the  disease  not  cholera  but  malignant  typhoid  fever. 
It  made  little  difference  to  the  generality  what  they  chose  to 
call  it.  By  December  6  cholera  was  reported  at  Jericho.  It 
was  reported  at  an  end  in  Kubab  but  continuing  in  Jaffa 
with  a  very  variable  death-rate.  By  the  middle  of  December 
six  thousand  deaths  had  been  reported  in  Gaza.  The  reports 
from  Jaffa  always  minified  the  number  of  victims.  One 
physician  stated  that,  when  the  reports  said  fifteen  a  day,  he 
knew  there  were  from  fifty  to  seventy  a  day.  It  was  said 
that  Moslems  were  evading  the  government's  orders  regard- 
ing instant  disposal  of  the  corpses  and  secreting  their  dead, 
in  order  that  they  might  carry  out  the  custom  of  washing 
and  otherwise  preparing  the  body  for  burial.  Hunger  prob- 
ably played  an  important  part  in  the  death-rate.  The  out- 
side world  never  knew  the  facts.  By  the  middle  of  January 
the  cholera  was  announced  at  Turmus  'Aya,  a  little  south 
of  ancient  Shiloh.  But  the  disease  had  done  its  worst  for 
the  country  for  that  season. 

The  work  of  Miss  Newton  in  Jaffa  and  vicinity  was  very 
effective  and  impressed  the  Moslems  greatly.  One  leading 
Moslem  in  Jaffa  tried  to  collect  money  for  the  suffering,  but 
met  with  no  very  generous  response.  He  exclaimed  of  this 
English  woman,  "  Do  you  mean  to  tell  me  that  the  Moslems, 
all  of  them,  will  go  to  heaven  and  this  noble  young  woman 
will  go  to  hell?  Her  shoe  is  purer  than  their  souls." 

109 


THE       PEASANTRY       OF       PALESTINE 


CHAPTER  V 

RELIGIOUS    LIFE   IN   THE   VILLAGE 

THE  chief  business  of  Palestine  is  religion.  There  is  a 
religious  instinct  which  must  be  reckoned  with  all  the  time. 
Its  importance  in  Eastern  life  can  scarcely  be  over-esti- 
mated. In  Syria,  there  is,  first  of  all,  a  Semitic  core  en- 
shrouded by  the  specific  religious  faith  and  ritual  of  the 
time.  In  the  peasantry,  of  whatever  faith,  this  racial  ele- 
ment is  strikingly  constant.  Eastern  life  simply  cannot 
be  understood  apart  from  religion.  And  yet  the  natives  of 
the  country  are  not,  strictly  speaking,  theological  in  their 
way  of  thinking.  They  have  little  conscience  as  to  doctrine. 
Church-membership  is  to  them  what  citizenship  is  to  us. 
Their  great  desire  at  present  is,  not  to  seek  true  doctrine,  but 
to  escape  the  persecutions  of  government  and  as  many  as 
possible  of  the  uncertainties  of  life,  by  getting  into  official 
relation  with  a  convent  or  other  ecclesiastical  establishment, 
a  foreign  consulate  or  a  business  under  the  protection  of 
foreigners.  Connection  with  such  institutions  affords  a 
measure  of  immunity  not  enjoyed  by  the  unattached  native. 
Just  so  any  member  of  a  Christian  church  has  the  patronage 
of  those  at  the  head  of  his  church,  who  are  jealously  alert  to 
withstand  state  encroachment.  In  the  treacherous  waters 
of  Eastern  life  ecclesiastical  trappings  are  as  life-belts,  not 
to  be  discarded.  There  is  little  opportunity  for  the  higher 
ethical  considerations  and  religious  growth  so  long  as  the 
solid  footing  of  fair  conditions  of  life  and  industrial  freedom 
is  denied.  So  long  as  the  most  lucrative  and  the  securest 
positions  are  those  of  clients  of  some  ecclesiastical  establish- 
ment, so  long  will  a  religion  of  loaves  and  fishes,  whatever 
the  sect,  prevail.  When  entering  on  a  study  of  religious 

no 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

conditions  in  Palestine  or  in  any  other  Asiatic  country  the 
Westerner  should  seek  the  equipment  of  a  sensibly  poised 
sympathy  and  unfailing  courtesy. 

Just  as  in  the  cities  the  mosks  and  minarets  (properly 
called  mddhaneh)  are  the  most  notable  religious  objects  pre- 
sented to  view,  so  in  the  country  the  eye  is  first  caught  by 
the  white  domes1  and  clustered  trees  of  the  shrines  called 
makdms  and  generally  designated  by  the  peasantry  as  wilys 
or  shaykhs.  The  holy  place  of  the  wily  or  shaykh  of  Kat- 
raw&ny  will  illustrate  the  significance  of  these  places,  which 
are  usually  situated  on  hills.2  The  shrine  of  Katrawany  is 
a  two-domed  building,  surrounded  with  trees,  north  of  the 
village  of  Bir-Zayt.  A  shaykh  from  the  village  of  'Atara, 
north  of  Jifnd,  went  down  toward  Gaza.  He  lived,  died  and 
was  buried  in  a  place  called  Katraw&ny  (or  Katrah).  But 
the  belief  came  about  that  his  spirit  came  back  to  this  place 
near  'At&ra.  So  a  sepulcher  was  built  for  him  there  on  the 
hill  where  his  spirit  was  supposed  to  be,  and  the  place  is 
now  a  shrine.  On  a  ride  to  the  north  of  this  spot  we  passed 
two  Moslem  pilgrims  who  were,  apparently,  from  middle 
Asia.  They  seemed  to  be  making  a  tour  of  the  shrines. 

Other  holy  places  are  the  reputed  tombs  of  ancient 
worthies,  as  en-Neby  Samwil,  the  prophet  Samuel,  a  mosk 
on  the  top  of  the  hill  of  that  name,  which  is  about  two  easy 
hours  from  Jerusalem  to  the  northwest.  The  tomb  of 
Samuel  is  shown  within,  and  the  country  of  his  activity  is 
in  view  from  the  lofty  tower  above  the  mosk.  Abandoned 
churches  and  mosks  are  resorted  to  as  shrines. 

Little  oil  lamps  are  often  seen  about  specially  revered 
places.  These  are  made  of  clay  in  the  shapes  sometimes 
designated  as  virgins'  lamps,  though  it  is  the  general  style 
of  thousands  of  years  back.  It  was  originally  a  little  saucer 
to  hold  oil,  in  which  a  wick  was  laid  with  one  end  on  the  edge. 
In  making  the  saucer  the  sides  were  first  pinched  up  a  little; 

1  Matt.  23:27.     2Deut.  12:2. 
Ill 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

then  more  and  more,  until  they  covered  the  top,  leaving  two 
openings,  one  in  a  sort  of  spout  for  the  wick,  and  one  behind, 
through  which  the  oil  could  be  fed.  A  handle  at  the  other 
end  was  sometimes  added.  Taste  and  ingenuity  then  varied 
the  details  of  shape  and  decoration  through  the  historical 
periods.  These  little  lamps  may  be  used  as  night-lamps  in 
the  houses,  but  are  sure  to  be  the  kind  employed  at  country 
shrines.  Some  of  the  poorest  people  make  very  crude  little 
clay  lamps  somewhat  after  the  ancient  pattern.  Sometimes 
they  take  the  cover  from  a  little  tin  box  and  pinch  it  into  the 
customary  shape. 

In  the  walls  of  the  vestibules  of  some  of  the  larger  and 
more  famous  ancient  tombs  are  niches  cut  for  the  placing 
of  lamps  by  devotees.  At  Tibneh  the  reputed  tomb  of 
Joshua  has  a  vestibule  which  is  twenty-nine  and  a  half  feet 
wide  and  over  ten  feet  high.  Its  roof  was  supported  origi- 
nally, on  the  front,  by  four  squared  columns  twenty-five 
inches  through,  cut  from  the  rock  of  the  place.  Two  of  the 
columns,  the  one  at  either  end,  are  engaged,  and  two  are  free. 
The  three  walls  of  the  vestibule  resemble  those  of  a  col- 
umbarium, having  two  hundred  seventy  lamp-niches,  all 
fairly  uniform,  in  even  rows  and  with  sloping  tops.  A  little 
entrance  two  feet  high  and  nineteen  inches  wide  leads  into 
the  tomb  chamber,  which  is  thirteen  feet  eight  inches  by 
thirteen  feet  two  inches  in  dimensions  and  has  fifteen  kokim. 

At  the  tomb  of  Joseph,  shown  near  Nablus,  there  is  a 
well-kept  modern  room  enclosing  the  tomb.  A  dumb  man 
was  in  charge  when  we  visited  the  place.  On  receiving  a 
bishlik,  as  we  were  leaving,  he  emitted  the  most  weird 
sounds  of  anger  and  flung  the  coin  on  the  pavement  in  pre- 
tended disgust. 

Places  once  consecrated  to  holy  purposes  are  apt  to  retain 
their  sanctity.  This  is  seen  in  the  regard  that  the  peasants 
have  for  the  shrines  and  places  of  religious  significance  to 
any  former  people.  The  old  church  at  Sebastiyeh  (Samaria) 

112 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

is  now  a  mosk.  The  ruin  of  the  Crusaders'  Church  at  el- 
Bireh  is  venerated  by  Moslem  and  Christian.  A  man 
essayed,  the  story  goes,  to  build  a  house  out  of  blocks  taken 
from  this  ruin,  but  his  house  fell,  not  once,  but  twice,  a  sign 
according  to  the  native  interpretation  of  the  impiety  of  the 
man's  act  in  taking  those  stones.  In  one  of  the  apses  of  the 
church  at  et-Tayyibeh  there  was  a  chromo  picture  on  a  board 
before  which  some  Christians  of  that  village  burned  oil  in  the 
little  lamps.  In  the  old  Greek  church  at  Ram  Allah,  no 
longer  in  ecclesiastical  use,  are  seen  the  lamps  used  by  wor- 
shipers who  reverence  the  old  site  superstitiously.  In 
another  part  of  the  village  there  is  a  room,  evidently  once  a 
mosk,  which  is  now  a  shrine  known  as  el-Khalil.  It  is  at  the 
left  of  the  west  end  of  the  long  market  street.  It  is  fronted 
by  a  little  courtyard  in  which  are  a  mulberry-tree  and  the 
capitals  of  a  couple  of  columns.  The  door  of  the  room  is  at 
the  northwest  corner;  at  the  northeast  corner  is  an  outside 
stairway  by  which  one  may  go  up  to  the  roof.  Over  the  door, 
serving  as  a  lintel,  is  a  piece  of  worked  stone,  evidently  a 
small  column.  It  is  ten  inches  wide  and  forty-three  inches 
long,  including  a  round  stone  ball  cut  on  the  right-hand  end, 
which  measures  six  and  a  half  inches.  A  raised  panel  design, 
twenty-nine  inches  long  and  three  inches  wide,  is  carved  on 
the  side.  Into  the  right  side  of  the  doorway  is  built  a  voussoir 
of  an  arch.  There  are  two  pieces  of  fluted  stone  built  into 
the  wall  of  the  building.  In  the  northeast  corner  of  the  wall 
the  corner-stones  are  of  good  size,  the  largest  being  twenty- 
seven  by  fourteen  by  eleven  inches.  The  next  stone  under 
this  largest  is  bossed.  The  upper  part  of  the  door  works  in 
a  stone  socket.  Inside,  the  room  is  well  plastered,  the  ceiling 
rather  low,  perhaps  fifteen  feet  from  the  floor.  A  column  is 
built  into  the  east  wall  near  the  southeast  corner.  It  is  nine 
feet  and  four  inches  tall.  There  is  a  kibleh  or  prayer-niche 
in  the  south  wall  of  the  room.  It  is  about  thirty-nine  inches 
deep  and  fifty-eight  and  a  half  inches  wide.  The  outer  facing 

113 


THE       PEASANTRY       OF       PALESTINE 

of  the  kibleh  is  two  feet  wide  on  each  side.  In  the  west  wall  is 
a  squarish  recess  like  a  closet.  In  the  east  wall  are  three  little 
boards  thrust  in  endwise  and  projecting  to  hold  lamps.  A 
large  jar  with  a  broken  top  contained  some  water.  There 
were  eighty-nine  lamps  in  the  room,  of  the  little  virgin-lamp 
style,  for  holding  oil.  The  women  of  Rdm  All£h  are  re- 
sponsible for  these,  as  it  is  their  custom  to  go  to  this  room 
and  light  lamps  and  offer  a  prayer  to  Ibrahim  Khalil  Allah 
(i.  e.,  Abraham,  the  friend  of  God1)  for  the  recovery  of  a 
sick  child.  Some  say  that  Thursday,  late  in  the  afternoon, 
is  the  favorite  time  for  women  to  go  there  and  pray  to  el- 
Khalil  (i.  e.,  the  friend  or  confidant,  abbreviated  from  the 
above  title).  The  building  and  yard  are  supposed  to  belong 
to  Abraham.  If  a  child  too  young  or  too  ill-bred  to  observe 
the  proprieties  should  molest  the  mulberries  on  the  tree  in 
the  yard  any  passer-by  would  be  apt  to  cry  out  to  it  to 
desist  lest  el-Khalil  should  destroy  it.  Anything  placed 
within  the  mosk  or  yard  is  considered  as  under  the  protection 
of  el-Khalil  and  perfectly  safe  from  theft.  Sometimes  a 
quantity  of  lime  is  left  in  temporary  store  in  this  safe  place. 
Perhaps  the  large  jar  that  we  saw  with  water  in  it  had  been 
left  there  by  some  one  who  had  been  working  in  lime. 

All  R£m  Allah  pertains  ecclesiastically  to  Hebron,  which 
goes  by  the  name  el-Khalil  in  Arabic  geography,  and  to  the 
famous  mosk  of  that  ancient  city.  In  keeping  with  this  the 
inhabitants  of  Ram  All&h,  all  Christians,  look  upon  el-Khalil 
(Abraham)  as  their  patron  saint.2  Invocations  are  fre- 
quently directed  to  him  in  fear  or  distress.  When  it  thunders 
the  old-fashioned  peasantry  say  that  Abraham  and  St. 
George  are  racing  their  horses  over  the  heavens  and  that 
the  thunder  is  the  noise  of  the  hoofs.  The  peasants'  invoca- 
tion muttered  on  such  occasions  is,  "  Y&  Khalil  Allah  Salam 
Alldh,"  which  some  interpret  as  a  prayer  that  Abraham's 
horse  may  not  slip.  The  other  saint  mentioned  is  Mar  Jurjus 

»2Chr.  20:7;  Isa.  41:8;  Jas.  2:23. 2C/.  Matt.  3:  9;  John  8:  39. 

114 


POTTERY 

1.  Jar  for  storing  oil,  olives,  molasses  or  vinegar.  2.  Style  of  water  jar  made  in  Sinjil. 
3.  Style  of  jar  made  in  Ram  Allah  for  holding  water  or  other  liquids.  4  and  5.  Smaller 
varieties  of  No.  3.  6  and  7.  Jars  for  carrying  water  on  the  head.  The  next  jar  to  the 
right  of  No.  7  is  the  kind  commonly  used  for  leben.  8,  9  and  10,  and  the  three  jars 
suspended  by  cords  in  the  middle  of  the  picture  are  all  drinking  jars;  the  two  having 
neither  spouts  nor  handles  are  for  cooling  water.  11,  12  and  15.  Clay  dishes  for  butter, 

lly  or  milk.     13.  Cooking  vessel.      14.  Charcoal  braziers.      17.  Salad  dishes.     (From 

artford  Theological  Seminary  Collection.) 


je 
H 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

el-Khudr  (St.  George  the  Ever-living),  to  whom  many  Pales- 
tine peasants  look  for  protection,  and  to  whom  considerable 
ecclesiastical  property  is  dedicated.  M&r  Elyas  and  many 
other  saints  are  spoken  of,  but  perhaps  the  two  above  men- 
tioned are  as  popular  as  any.  Comparatively  few  Greek 
Christian  foundations  bear  the  name  of  the  Virgin  Mary 
(es-Sitti  Mary  am  el-'Adhra).  But  to  return  to  our  little 
mosk,  el-Khalil.  Report  has  it  that  the  people  of  the  village 
are  much  afraid  that  Moslems  will  lay  claim  to  it  sometime, 
and  they  are  debating  whether  it  would  not  be  well  to  destroy 
the  kibleh  and  with  it  all  evidence  of  its  once  having  been 
a  mosk.  The  Ram  Allah  people  are  much  averse  to  possible 
encouragement  of  the  introduction  of  Moslems  or  their  cus- 
toms into  the  village.  The  curious  question  remains,  How 
can  this  mosk  in  a  Christian  village  be  accounted  for?  We 
might  as  well  add  that  the  Jews  also,  at  Abraham's  mosk  in 
Hebron,  pray  to  Abraham. 

At  the  right  of  the  entrance  to  the  yard  of  el-Khalll  in 
Ram  Allah  is  a  living-house  that  runs  along  the  west  side  of 
the  court  and  joins  the  mosk  at  the  corner.  This  used  to  be 
the  common  mudafya  or  guest-house  for  the  entire  village. 
The  poor  and  strangers  were  entertained  here.  Families 
took  turns  supplying  the  food  requisite  for  its  maintenance. 
It  was  given  up  some  years  ago  and  there  is  no  common 
guest-house  now.  Each  of  the  different  tribes  has  its  own 
guest-room. 

The  reverence  for  sacred  trees  is  another  of  the  indigenous 
superstitions  not  essentially  connected  with  any  of  the  more 
modern  faiths.  Three  hours  out  from  Tiberias,  toward 
Mount  Tabor,  a  tree  was  observed  with  rags  tied  on  its 
branches  at  the  trunk.  Large  chunks  of  wood  lay  about 
under  the  tree.  Some  graves  of  Moslems  were  near  at  hand. 
A  fine  large  sacred  tree  stands  near  Surdah,  the  little  village 
(ancient  Zereda)  between  R£m  Allah  and  Jifna.  Between 
Jifna  and  'Ayn  Yebrud,  shortly  after  passing  Durah,  the 

115 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

path  goes  by  two  fine  oaks.  The  spot  is  known  by  the  name 
Umm  Barak£t,  the  mother  of  blessings.  Rags  were  tied 
to  the  branches  of  the  older  of  the  two  trees.  This  tree 
was  decaying,  while  the  other  was  young  and  flourishing. 

Some  curious  pulpit-shaped  rocks  near  the  trees  doubtless 
helped  to  give  the  place  its  sacred  character.  We  saw 
remains  of  fires  near  by.  In  a  crevice  of  a  rock  there  was 
a  broken  black  jar  with  fragments  of  charcoal  in  it. 

The  locality  of  a  murder  has  a  sort  of  fascination  for  the 
peasantry.  Less  than  an  hour  out  from  Bayt  €Ur  et-Tahta 
(the  lower  Beth  Horon),  on  the  road  to  Ramleh,  there  is 
shown  a  fig-tree  near  which,  fifty  years  ago,  a  Ram  Allah 
man  was  killed  by  a  Moslem.  A  pile  of  stones  covers  the 
actual  spot.1  Near  the  path  from  'Ayn  Yebrud  to  et- 
Tayyibeh,  east  of  the  Nablus  road,  is  a  stony,  barren  tract 
called  the  Wastiyeh.  Into  one  of  the  cisterns  found  here 
the  body  of  a  murdered  man  was  once  thrown;  consequently 
those  who  have  to  pass  the  place  do  so  with  trepidation. 

There  is  a  notion  current  that  the  sins  of  a  slain  man  come 
upon  the  slayer.  Sometimes,  therefore,  they  say  of  one  who 
persists  in  wrong-doing  that  at  last  he  will  get  some  one  to 
kill  him  and  so  escape  the  consequences  of  his  own  sins. 

Superstitions  by  the  score,  common  to  those  of  different 
faiths,  might  be  discovered  among  the  people,  such  as  the 
cutting  of  the  hair  and  the  hanging  of  an  egg  and  garlic,  and 
perhaps  also  blue  glass  bracelets,  over  the  doorway  of  a  new 
house.  Some  peasants  will  not  eat  food  which  another  man 
has  desired  lest  harm  might  come  of  it.  "  For/'  they  say, 
"  the  soul  of  the  man  who  wished  the  food  has  entered  into 
it."  If  a  man  takes  food  in  his  hands  to  eat,  and  the  food 
falls,  he  will  say  that  it  was  not  meant  that  he  should  eat  it. 
Fear  of  evil  spirits  or,  more  specifically,  of  the  evil  eye,  is  an 
ever-present  dread.  It  seems  to  arise  from  the  notion  that 
too  much  prosperity,  health,  pleasure  or  any  good  thing,  or 
1  2  Sam.  18:  17. 

116 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

the  signs  of  such,  may  arouse  malignant  activity  on  the  part 
of  some  jealous  spirit.  An  appearance  of  poverty,  of  forlorn, 
misery,  even  of  uncleanness,  especially  in  a  child,  is  thought 
to  lessen  the  likelihood  of  unwelcome  attention  from  the 
evilly-disposed  spirit.  Blue  beads  and  blue  tattoo  marks  on 
the  face  are  utilized  to  avert  the  evil  eye.  The  evil  eye  may 
be  in  the  steady  gaze  or  stare  of  a  stranger,  or  in  his  photo- 
graphic camera,  which  the  more  ignorant  dodge  fearsomely. 

It  is  common  for  women  to  pray  for  offspring,  and  there 
is  great  faith  in  visits  to  certain  shrines  and  localities  for 
this  object.1  The  warm  springs  at  Tiberias  on  Lake  Galilee 
are  looked  upon  as  peculiarly  efficacious  bathing  places  for 
barren  women. 

It  may  be  said  of  every  site  of  Old  Testament  times,  that 
is  known  or  supposed  to  be  known,  and  of  many  later  sites, 
including  crusading  remains,  that  the  superstitious  reverence 
of  the  peasantry  clings  to  them.  Add  to  these  the  shrines  of 
modern  origin,  departed  Moslem  shaykhs  and  holy  men, 
dervishes  and  the  insane,  which  are  often  revered  as  devoutly 
by  Christians  as  by  Moslems,  and  one  begins  to  recognize  the 
existence  of  powerful  religious  influences  quite  independent 
of  the  teachings  of  Christianity  or  Islam. 

Even  that  temper  of  mind  known  as  fatalism,  and  ascribed 
particularly  to  the  Moslems,  is  a  common  characteristic  of 
all  the  peasantry.  The  belief  in  a  set  and  immutable  time 
to  die,  for  example,  is  as  firmly  held  by  many  Christian 
peasants  as  by  Moslems.  One  also  meets  the  conviction  that 
early  death  is  the  special  mark  of  heaven's  disfavor,  and  that 
the  pious  need  not  expect  it.  After  the  death  of  a  young 
man  who  had  emigrated  to  America,  and  while  gloom  hung 
over  the  village  because  of  it,  I  was  talking  with  an  old  man, 
a  Greek  Christian,  whose  sons  contemplated  going  to  America. 
He  said  that  as  he,  with  all  his  family,  was  devout,  he  had  no 
fear  that  his  sons  would  die  in  America.  He  believed  that 

1 1  Sam.  1:  10,  11. 
117 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

no   harm  could  befall  those  who   did  right  and  observed 
prayers.1 

Among  the  Moslems  of  a  country  population  in  villages 
where  no  pretentious  buildings  can  be  erected,  and  on  the 
desert  where  no  such  building  would  be  of  any  avail,  the  one 
thing  that  holds  the  daily  attention  of  the  faithful  is  the 
institution  of  prayer.  Five  times  in  the  twenty-four  hours 
this  ought  to  be  performed,  with  preliminary  bathing,  the 
formulated  utterances  and  the  prescribed  prostrations.  This 
is  the  tie  that  binds.  At  the  appointed  time  the  horseman 
dismounts,  spreads  his  cloak  for  a  rug  and  upon  it  performs 
his  devotions.2  Soldiers  go  a  little  way  from  the  barracks 
and  in  some  open  space  offer  their  prayers.  Dignified 
effendis  proceed  to  pray,  whoever  may  be  about.3  At  large 
springs,  as  at  el-Bireh  and  Lubban,  small  stone  platforms 
are  provided  for  those  who  are  near  at  hand  when  the  hour 
of  prayer  comes  upon  them.  The  apparent  oblivion  which 
overtakes  a  devotee  at  any  of  his  exercises  seems  impene- 
trable. Riding  out  northward  from  Jerusalem  in  a  carriage 
with  Moslem  passengers,  I  had  an  opportunity  to  note  the 
sort  of  spell  that  came  over  one  of  them,  a  dervish,  during 
his  devotions.  He  wore  a  pointed  cap  of  quilted  felt  and  a 
green  kefiyeh.  He  interrupted  his  conversation  at  sunset 
to  begin  a  singsong  of  certain  offices,  his  memory  being 
assisted  by  a  note-book.  He  half  closed  his  eyes  and,  turning 
his  head  now  this  way  and  now  that,  in  utter  unconcern 
about  his  appearance  or  surroundings,  he  wailed  out  his  cry 
as  the  carriage  rolled  along.  Afterward  he  resumed  the  con- 
versation. Once  on  the  same  road  a  dervish,  apparently  a 
simple  fellow,  ran  a  considerable  distance  behind  our  car- 
riage. He  was  armed  with  a  sort  of  javelin.  The  peasants 
chaffed  him  as  they  would  a  child.  The  stated  hours  of 
prayer  for  Moslems  are  just  a  little  after  the  sun  has  set,  two 

1  Eccles.  7: 17;   Job  4:  7j  cf.  Psalm  55:  23;  Psalm  91.     2  Cf.  Psalm 
55:  17.     3C/.  Matt.  6:5. 

118 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

hours  after  sunset,  a  little  before  dawn,  just  at  the  turn  of 
noon  and  in  the  afternoon  about  midway  between  noon  and 
dark.  These  five  regular  times  for  prayer  are  denominated 
respectively,  maghrib,  'asheyeh,  subh,  duhr  and  *asr.  There 
may  be  extra  or  supererogatory  prayer  seasons,  but  these 
are  the  stated  ones.  Wherever  there  are  muadhdhins  (muez- 
zins), as  in  all  the  larger  places,  they  ascend  their  towers 
and  call  out  the  hour  of  prayer.  At  Jenin  our  room  was  near 
the  mosk  and  madhaneh  (minaret).  The  call  of  the  muadh- 
dhin  there  between  three  and  four  o'clock  in  the  morning  was 
the  most  varied  and  melodious  intonation  that  I  heard  in 
the  land.  It  was  peculiarly  rich  and  sweet,  and  I  felt  in- 
stinctively that  the  man's  soul  was  in  an  ecstasy  of  religious 
fervor. 

The  complicated  prayer  of  the  Moslems,  in  a  characteristic 
form,  has  received  classic  description  in  the  superb  work  of 
the  great  Orientalist,  Lane,  in  his  "  Manners  and  Customs 
of  the  Modern  Egyptians."  People  interested  in  Arabic 
civilization  do  themselves  an  injustice  if  they  omit  the  care- 
ful reading  of  that  book. 

An  occasion  of  keen  interest  to  all  the  villages  where 
Moslems  dwell  is  the  annual  Neby  Musa  (prophet  Moses) 
pilgrimage  in  April  to  the  hill  reputed  among  Moslems  to  be 
the  place  of  the  burial  of  Moses.1  It  lies  due  east  from 
Jerusalem  and  southwest  from  Jericho.  From  Jebel  Nablus 
and  Jebel  el-Khalil  (Hebron  and  environs)  and  all  the  country 
about  contingents  arrive  in  Jerusalem.  Banners  are  carried 
to  denote  the  delegations.  Dervishes  are  in  attendance  to 
excite  the  religious  emotions  by  dancing,2  howling  and  self- 
mutilation.  Soldiers  are  there  to  represent  the  authority 
of  the  government.  All  assembled  at  Jerusalem,  the  pro- 
cession starts  from  the  Hardm  esh-Sherif  on  Friday  and, 
proceeding  out  through  the  St.  Stephen's  Gate  (B&b  Sitti 
Maryam),  goes  down  into  the  Kidron  Valley  and  off  by  the 

1  C/.  Deut.  34:  6.     2  2  Sam.  6:  14. 
119 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

Bethany  road.  Spectators  throng  the  hillside  east  of  the 
gate.  Groups  of  women,  huddled  in  out-of-door  harims,  sit 
on  the  edge  of  the  high  embankments  by  the  roadside. 
Venders  of  toys  and  delicacies  ply  their  trade.  Some  of  the 
dervishes  have  spikes,  with  filigree  iron  heads,  thrust  through 
their  cheeks.1  Drummers  and  singers  and  the  marching 
pilgrims  pass  on,  accompanied  a  part  of  the  way  by  digni- 
taries in  carriages.  As  the  banners  pass  between  the  high 
embankments  on  the  sides  of  the  road  the  spectators  sitting 
there  are  apt  to  take  hold  of  the  floating  folds  and  kiss  them, 
or  rub  their  faces  with  them,  afterward  passing  them  on  to 
friends.2  The  pilgrims  spend  a  week  at  Neby  Musa,  where 
they  have  a  sort  of  camp-meeting  and  religious  revival.  It 
is  an  opportunity  for  the  venders  of  supplies.  On  the  fol- 
lowing Friday  the  procession  returns  to  the  city  with  drum- 
ming, shouting  and  shooting  of  firearms. 

During  the  month  of  Ramadan  a  strict  fast  is  observed  by 
Moslems  in  the  daytime.  They  are  allowed  to  fortify  them- 
selves for  it  by  indulging  during  the  nights.  As  the  Moslem 
calendar,  made  on  the  basis  of  lunar  months,  shifts  about  the 
seasons,  Ramadan  comes,  through  a  course  of  years,  in  all 
seasons,  wet,  dry  and  intermediate.  It  can  readily  be  under- 
stood that  such  hardships  as  there  are  in  the  observance  of 
the  day-fast  through  Ramadan  will  fall  to  the  lot  of  the  poor, 
the  largest  percentage  of  whom  would  be  peasantry.  In  the 
cities  a  signal  is  provided  to  warn  the  people  of  the  approach 
of  daylight  and  of  the  close  of  the  day.  This  allows  them 
time  to  provide  for  suitable  observance  of  the  day-fast  and 
the  night-time  indulgence.  In  Jerusalem,  for  instance,  a 
cannon  is  discharged  for  the  signals.  In  Hebron  both  a  gun 
and  a  drum  are  used,  but  at  different  times.  The  gun  is 
fired  at  sunset.  In  the  morning  about  two  o'clock  a  man 
goes  about  with  a  drum  and  sings  out  his  warning  to  the 
people  to  arise  and  prepare  their  meal  before  the  coming  of 

1 C/.  1  Kings  18: 28.     2  Cf.  Mark  5:  27;  Acts  5:  15;  19:  12. 
120 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

the  light  shall  make  eating  unlawful.  The  devotees  are  not 
supposed  to  eat  or  drink  anything  after  the  time  when  the 
coming  light  allows  them  to  distinguish  between  a  white 
thread  and  a  black  one.  This  time  is  usually  a  little  later 
than  4  A.M.  Many  of  the  peasants  hear  the  signals  from 
afar,  but  to  those  unable  to  do  so  their  best  judgment  must 
be  the  warning. 

One  evening  as  we  journeyed  homeward  from  the  city  we 
saw  a  group  of  Moslems  squatting  around  in  a  circle  on  the 
ground  eating  their  first  meal  for  that  day.  They  had  been 
overtaken  by  the  proper  time  while  on  a  journey.  We  made 
a  visit  to  Teku'a  and  Herodium  on  the  last  day  of  Ramadan. 
We  were  gone  from  7  A.M.  until  late  evening.  Our  Moslem 
guide  fasted  all  day.  On  the  way  back,  after  dark,  as  we 
passed  through  Bethlehem,  he  took  a  small  quantity  of  food. 
Later,  as  we  were  going  up  the  road  from  Bethlehem  to 
Jerusalem,  the  guide  broke  out  joyfully,  "  Ramadan  finished; 
not  a  day  left,"  and  soon  after  we  heard  the  Jerusalem  guns 
ushering  in  the  feast  of  Bairam. 

Doubtless  the  strongest  visible  cor/1  of  union  among  the 
native  Christians  is  the  priesthood.  (Most  priests  feel  them- 
selves to  be  soldiers  of  the  faith  as  well  as  expounders  of  its 
doctrines.  They  are  exceedingly  jealous  of  prerogatives. 
The  hand-to-hand  fights  between  Greek  and  Latin  priests  at 
the  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulcher,  the  feuds  and  wars  be- 
tween Maronites  and  Druzes  in  the  Lebanon,  the  tireless 
rivalry  all  through  the  country  of  those  who  represent  the 
native  churches,  witness  to  a  sense  of  rights  and  also  of  a 
commission  in  a  militant  order.  7  Any  newly  discovered 
ancient  site  of  especially  religious  significance,  such  as  the 
ruins  of  a  church  or  a  monastery,  is  seized,  if  possible,  with 
avidity.  The  Orthodox  Greek  Church  is  easily  the  master 
of  the  situation  in  Christian  Palestine.  The  wealth  and  in- 
fluence of  this  church  are  great  and  its  presumptive  rights  are 
unquestionable,  since  it  is  the  church  that  was  in  possession 

121 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

of  the  land  before  the  Moslem  conquest  and  the  church  with 
which  the  conquerors  have  dealt.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church  represents  the  faith  of  the  Crusaders, 
who  held  power  for  over  a  century  in  the  country,  and  to-day 
the  interests  of  this  church  are  upheld  by  French,  Italian  and 
Austrian  influence.  Wealth  has  poured  in  and*a  secure  place 
has  been  won  for  this  Western  church  in  the  cities.  In  the 
village  progress  for  it  is  difficult.  The  Roman  Catholic  or- 
ganization is  closer  than  the  Greek,  and  their  representatives 
in  Palestine  are  well  educated,  as  a  rule. 

For  the  Orthodox  Greek  Church  the  patriarchate  at  Jeru- 
salem is  the  ecclesiastical  center  in  Palestine.  The  chief 
ecclesiastical  positions  are  filled  by  foreigners  speaking  Greek. 
In  any  village  the  church,  if  large,  is  under  the  care  of  a 
foreign  head  priest,  called  rats,  assisted  by  native  priests 
called  khttrys.  These  khurys  must  know  a  little,  presum- 
ably, about  reading  and  writing,  in  order  to  read  the  services 
in  Arabic;  but,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  some  of  them  would  be 
put  to  it  if  handed  a  bit  of  sight  reading  in  their  own  tongue. 
In  Ram  Allah,  when  a  vacancy  occurs  in  the  number  of  these 
native  assistants,  each  tribe  nominates  one  candidate  and  the 
village  elders  choose  one  from  the  number.  The  chosen  one 
goes  to  the  patriarch  in  Jerusalem  for  his  authority,  regalia 
and  induction  into  office.  Each  khury  assists  in  the  prayers 
for  a  week  in  turn.  They  receive  a  monthly  stipend  from  the 
patriarchate  paid  through  the  rais.  This  may  amount  to 
between  six  and  ten  dollars.  The  Ram  Allah  people  pay 
into  the  church  a  fee  of  one  and  a  half  or  two  dollars  for  a 
marriage,  forty  cents  for  a  funeral  and  about  twenty-two 
cents  for  a  baptism.  A  khury  may  have  been  a  tradesman 
before  being  chosen  to  office  and  have  no  special  preparation 
for  his  work.  He  may  be  a  married  man  when  chosen  and 
in  such  a  case  would  retain  his  wife.  The  patriarchate  in 
Jerusalem  is  possessed  of  great  revenues  from  rentals  and 
business  interests  and  is  disposed  to  be  generous  to  its  mem- 

122 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

bers  and  to  make  sure  of  their  loyal  adherence.  Free  quar- 
ters, provisions  and  other  assistance  are  granted  when  such 
concessions  will  do  good  in  cementing  the  allegiance  of  the 
communicants. 

The  native  Greek  Christian  has  no  zeal  for  the  conversion 
of  a  Moslem  to  Christianity.  Some  abhor  the  thought  of 
giving  the  Christian  gospel  to  the  unbeliever,  and  some 
believe  that  the  nature  of  the  Moslem  is  irredeemable.  Most 
of  the  natives,  however,  believe  in  a  division  or  allotment 1 
of  religions  to  the  peoples,  that  the  gospel  is  for  Christians 
and  the  Kuran  for  Moslems  and  that  this  is  a  very  proper 
arrangement.  The  lack  of  interest  on  this  subject  is  prob- 
ably the  result  of  centuries  of  habit  and  sentiment.  Certain 
it  is  that  few,  if  any,  Moslem  renegades  would  be  allowed  to 
live  in  Palestine.  Two  converted  Moslems  have  been  bap- 
tized in  recent  years  and  shipped  to  Egypt  for  safety.  Mos- 
lems now  and  then  convert  Christians.  In  the  mixed  village 
of  'Abud  some  Christians  have  turned  Moslem. 

The  Christian  year  in  Palestine,  among  the  Greek  Church 
peasantry,  is  according  to  the  Julian  style.  Whenever  a 
fast  is  the  order  of  the  Greek  Church  calendar  those  who 
heed  it  refuse  resolutely  any  animal  food,  or  food  that  is 
cooked  in  fat  or  that  contains  any  amount  whatever  of 
butter,  milk  or  other  animal  substance.  Once  while  out 
traveling,  during  Greek  Lent,  we  wished  to  share  our  lunch 
with  a  Christian  native  who  attended  to  the  riding  animals. 
Among  other  supplies  were  some  cookies.  These  were,  of 
course,  a  new  style  of  food,  but  sufficiently  near  to  what  the 
natives  call  "kak,"  cake.  Being  a  little  uncertain  as  to  how 
such  a  thing  might  be  made,  the  conscientious  man  had  to 
inquire,  and  on  our  confessing  that  there  was  some  animal 
substance  in  the  article,  he  felt  it  necessary  to  decline  it. 

Easter  goes  by  the  name  of  the  "  Great  Feast  "  among 
Oriental  Christians,  and  its  approach  and  occurrence  arouse 

1  Cf.  Deut.  4: 19. 
123 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

the  keenest  ecclesiastical  activity  during  the  year.  Wed- 
dings, not  being  allowed  during  the  Lenten  fast,  come  in  rapid 
succession  after  Easter  Day.  On  a  Palm  Sunday  we  saw 
girls  dancing  on  the  threshing-floor  of  the  village.1  In  the 
week  preceding  Easter  come  the  ceremonial  of  feet-washing 2 
before  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulcher  in  Jerusalem,  and 
the  descent  of  the  Greek  fire  at  the  Sepulcher,  inside  the 
same  church.  Good  Friday  evening  is  such  a  time  of  general 
attendance  at  church  for  prayer  that  it  offers  opportunities 
to  those  not  of  the  faith  to  break  into  the  village  houses  and 
steal. 

The  feasts  constitute  a  convenient  calendar,  marking  the 
seasons  for  the  peasantry.  For  instance,  in  the  autumn 
three  of  the  feasts  are  connected  in  the  minds  of  the  peas- 
antry with  the  coming  of  the  rain.  At  the  Feast  of  the 
Cross,  towards  the  end  of  September,  the  peasants  say  there 
is  rain  on  one  hand  and  summer  weather  on  the  other.  At 
the  later  Feast  of  St.  George  (el-Khudr),  observed  especially 
at  Ludd,  it  is  expected  that  the  rain  will  come  in  an  amount 
sufficient  to  enable  the  farmer  to  sow  and  plow.  At  the 
Feast  of  Burbara  (Barbara),  in  December,  they  say  the  rain 
will  come  in  through  every  mouse-hole  in  the  house,  that  is, 
in  an  exceptionally  heavy  downpour.  On  the  first  and  last 
of  these  feasts,  The  Cross  and  St.  Barbara,  parents  like  to 
make  for  their  children  dishes  of  boiled  wheat  with  little 
candies  stuck  around  the  top. 

The  Roman  Catholic  priests  are  zealously  cultivating  the 
native  Christian  population,  and  trying  to  increase  in  in- 
fluence, though  the  feeling  against  them  on  the  part  of  the 
Greeks  is  one  of  bitter  hostility.  They  are  forced  to  adopt 
a  missionary  policy  and  their  growth  in  the  country  villages 
is  very  slow.  They  have  established  excellent  monastery 
accommodations  for  the  shelter  of  such  of  their  pilgrims  as 
pass  through  the  country. 

1  C/.  John  12:  13.     2  John  13:  5. 

124 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

The  United  Greek  Church,  which  is  so  important  in  the 
north,  is  making  a  small  beginning  in  Palestine.  It  uses  the 
Arabic  language  in  the  service.  It  is  that  section  of  the  old 
Greek  Orthodox  Church  which  was  won  over  to  papal  alle- 
giance, and  is  being  used  as  a  sort  of  bridge  between  the  Greek 
Church  and  the  Roman.  Protestants  find  the  Greek  Ortho- 
dox Christians  much  less  hostile  than  the  Roman  Catholics. 
However,  a  priest  of  the  United  Greeks  (Roman  Catholic) 
has  been  known  to  bring  boys  to  one  of  the  Protestant  board- 
ing-schools for  entrance  for  the  sake  of  the  training  there 
afforded. 

The  Greek  monasteries  in  the  lonely  country  districts  are 
often  penal  'establishments,  such  as  those  in  the  Wady  Kelt, 
on  Mt.  Quarantana  (the  traditional  site  of  the  temptation  of 
Jesus),  and  at  Mar  Sab  a. 

Though  they  are  so  small  a  sect  as  scarcely  to  be  counted 
in  the  enumeration  of  present-day  religious  bodies  in  Pales- 
tine, yet  the  Samaritans,  because  of  their  historical  connec- 
tion with  the  country  and  its  religious  genius,  have  a  signifi- 
cance for  us  and  a  description  of  their  great  feast  may  be 
interesting.1 

About  5.30  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  May  1,  1901,  a 
small  party  of  us  who  had  been  riding  all  day  through  the 
hill-country  of  Ephraim,  came  in  sight  of  Jacob's  Well,2  or 
rather  in  sight  of  the  walled  enclosure  about  the  premises, 
which  the  Greek  Church  has  secured.  For  the  first  time  in 
some  weeks  we  saw  also  a  line  of  telegraph  poles  and  wires, 
that  from  Nablus  to  the  east  of  Jordan.  We  rounded  the 
lower  slopes  of  Mount  Gerizim  and  in  a  short  time  were  going 
down  the  valley,  having  Gerizim  on  our  left  and  Ebal  on  our 
right.  This  valley,  in  which  modern  Nablus,  ancient 
Shechem,  lies,  runs  east  and  west.  The  city  of  over  twenty 
thousand  inhabitants  is  about  eighteen  hundred  feet  above 
the  sea-level,  picturesquely  lodged  between  the  two  moun- 

1  2  Kings  17:  24-41;  John  4:  9,  12,  20.     2  John  4:  6. 
125 


THE    PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

tains.  The  valley  is  narrow,  so  that  a  few  minutes'  ride  from 
the  center  of  the  city  would  lead  one  to  the  slopes  of  either 
mountain,  and  an  hour's  climb  to  the  top  of  either.  The 
ascent  of  Gerizim  is  a  simple  matter;  that  of  Ebal  would  be 
less  pleasant  on  account  of  the  prickly-pear  (cactus)  which 
grows  very  thickly  on  its  sides.  Approaching  the  city  as 
we  did  from  the  east  end  of  the  valley,  one  sees  an  attractive 
group  of  cheerfully  tinted  buildings,  some  quite  high  for  a 
Palestinian  city,  built  rather  towards  the  Gerizim  side  of  the 
valley.  Several  tall  palm-trees  stand  among  the  buildings. 
A  little  to  the  right,  and  quite  prominent,  is  a  Moslem 
cemetery,  its  graves  covered  with  stones  set  up  to  look  like 
small  sarcophagi.  The  first  building  reached  contains  the 
barracks  of  the  soldiers  who  do  the  police  duty  of  the  country 
round.  Presently  we  join  the  road  from  Jacob's  Well,  which 
forms  a  V  with  our  own.  Rooms  were  secured  at  the  Latin 
monastery.  We  had  timed  our  visit  so  as  to  be  present  at 
the  Passover  celebrations  of  the  Samaritans.  The  once 
powerful  sect,  constantly  diminishing,  is  now  confined  to 
this  one  city.  Friends  living  in  Nablus  report  it  as  number- 
ing but  one  hundred  and  twenty  souls.  The  next  day,  as  we 
rode  up  the  mountain  to  the  Passover,  we  passed  the  little 
graveyard  that  receives  the  different  members  as  they  fail 
from  the  congregation.  It  looks  like  a  bit  of  plowed  ground, 
with  its  simple  broken  surface.  The  Samaritans  we  found 
near  the  top  of  the  mountain.  There  they  were  at  their 
great  camp-meeting  of  the  year,  living  in  tents  near  the 
place  of  sacrifice,  which  is  just  below  and  a  little  west  of  the 
very  summit  of  Gerizim.  Moslem  and  Christian  spectators 
were  sitting  or  walking  about  the  encampment,  and  here  and 
there  among  these  were  Moslem  soldiers,  the  inevitable 
accompaniments  of  Eastern  religious  celebrations. 

As  there  was  time  before  sunset,  we  went  to  the  summit,  a 
few  minutes'  walk  above  the  camp.  It  is  a  good  situation  for 
a  citadel  and  fortification,  and  we  found  the  ruins  of  one 

126 


ON    THE    WAY    TO   JERUSALEM   FOR    THE    NEBY   MUSA    PROCESSION 


A    NEBY    MUSA     CONTINGENT     ARRIVING     WITHIN     THE     JAFFA     GATE, 
JERUSALEM 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

strewn  all  over  the  cap  of  the  mountain.  As  one  stands  at 
the  northeast  end  of  the  very  summit,  near  a  Moslem  wily 
(small  memorial  building  to  some  saint),  the  view  is  superb; 
mountains  on  every  hand,  among  them  Hermon,  farthest  yet 
grandest  of  them  all.  Just  below  us,  like  a  velvet  carpet  of 
regular  pattern,  is  the  fertile  plain  of  Makhna,  running  north 
and  south.  True  to  Syrian  religious  custom,  according  to 
which  every  sect  or  religion  makes  a  convenient  grouping 
of  all  its  holy  places,  we  have  only  to  look  around  to  see  the 
celebrated  places  of  sacred  writ.  Here,  the  Samaritans 
claim,  is  the  true  Shiloh,  the  true  Bethel,  and  also  Mount 
Moriah.  Over  there  to  the  southeast,  across  the  Makhna, 
is  the  little  village  of  Rujib,  which  they  say  is  Ai,  while  the 
village  of  'Awarta  is  the  burial-place  of  the  sons  of  Aaron. 
Not  accuracy,  but  convenience  and  monopoly,  seem  to  guide 
Eastern  religionists  in  identifying  holy  places.  Near  this  the 
northeast  end  of  the  mountain  is  a  portion  of  the  foundation 
of  the  ancient  Samaritan  temple.  A  little  to  the  south,  on 
the  east  side,  is  a  large  expanse  of  rock,  sloping  westward. 
Here,  they  claim,  was  the  true  site  of  the  tabernacle,  the 
altar  being  the  rock,  the  slope  of  which  allowed  the  blood  of 
victims  to  flow  into  the  pit  at  the  lower  end.  At  the  west 
end  of  the  ruined  castle  are  shown  twelve  huge  stones  which, 
they  say,  are  the  ones  that  Joshua  took  from  the  bed  of  the 
Jordan.1  At  the  northwest  side  is  an  old  pool. 

Returning  now  to  the  encampment,  which  was  in  excite- 
ment over  the  coming  ceremony,  we  found  a  sunken  space 
about  three  feet  deep  and  about  twenty  by  forty  feet  in 
area.  It  ran  north  and  south  and  was  enclosed  by  a  wall. 
A  tent  had  been  standing  in  the  southerly  end  as  we  went  by 
on  the  way  up  the  hill.  This  was  now  taken  down  and 
allowed  to  lie  flat  on  the  ground,  affording  a  good-sized 
space  for  the  priests,  who  came  into  the  enclosure  with  some 
twenty  other  men  with  their  prayer-rugs.  These  Samari- 

1  Josh.  4:  3-5,  20. 
127 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

tans  were  fine-looking  people.  I  think  that  they  had  the 
finest  faces  I  ever  saw  in  such  numbers  in  the  East.  They 
had  well-formed  heads,  and  there  was  quite  a  variety  of 
facial  types,  some  round  and  chubby,  others  long,  some  dark 
and  others  light.  They  all,  old  men  as  well  as  little  boys, 
had  clear,  delicate  skins.  The  high  priest  was  tall  and  slight. 
His  beard  was  gray  and  his  countenance  very  pleasing.  The 
second  priest  was  a  larger  man,  heavy  and  well  proportioned, 
with  a  brown  beard.  In  the  middle  of  the  enclosure  was  a 
little  pit  with  fire  over  which  were  three  large  kettles  of 
boiling  water.  Near  it  were  seven  lambs  ready  for  the 
sacrifice,  nosing  around  and  chewing  contentedly.  The  en- 
closure soon  filled  up  with  the  Samaritans.  The  high  priest 
and  the  men  with  him  took  their  places  on  the  canvas  facing 
the  east,  towards  the  rock  of  sacrifice  just  mentioned  and 
began  the  ritual  of  the  Passover.  The  high  priest  wore  a 
long  green  robe.  The  others  were  dressed  in  white.  The 
rest  of  the  men  and  children  stood  about,  inside  the  enclosure, 
taking  part  in  the  service.  When  about  half  through  with 
the  service  the  high  priest  turned  and  faced  the  two  irregular 
rows  of  worshipers  behind  him  and  began  the  prayers, 
among  them  one  for  the  Sultan.  We  noticed  on  the  breast 
of  the  high  priest  a  badge  said  to  be  the  gift  of  the  Sultan. 
After  the  prayers  all  except  the  high  priest  went  to  the  other 
end  of  the  enclosure  while  he  began  reading  the  twelfth 
chapter  of  Exodus.  The  sun  was  about  to  set.  The  Pass- 
over moon,  like  a  silver  globe,  came  over  the  top  of 
Gerizim  in  front  of  us.  Just  as  the  priest  came  to  the  word 
kill,  at  a  certain  place  in  the  chapter,  the  eager  look  on  the 
faces  of  the  Samaritans  gathered  about  the  animals  became 
very  intense,  and  as  the  fatal  word  was  pronounced  with 
unusual  emphasis  the  knives  of  those  in  readiness  were  set 
to  the  throats  of  the  sacrificial  victims  and  the  high  priest 
turned  his  face  again  towards  the  east  in  supplicatory  prayer. 
The  blood  was  caught  and  a  little  of  it  was  daubed  on  the 

128 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

faces  of  some  of  the  children.  Then  hot  water  was  used  to 
help  pull  off  the  wool  from  the  sheep,  as  they  were  to  be 
roasted  in  their  skins  over  the  large  fiery  pit,  which  all  this 
time  had  been  in  preparation  just  outside  the  enclosure  to 
the  southeast  corner.  Men  had  been  continually  replenish- 
ing it  with  fuel  until  the  rocks  were  very  hot.  A  rustic  frame 
of  crossed  sticks  was  provided  to  cover  it  when  all  was  ready. 
Long  wooden  spits  were  brought  and  the  lambs,  with  heads 
on  but  the  right  fore  limbs  removed,  were  fixed  for  roasting. 
The  refuse  parts  were  destroyed  by  fire.  Unleavened  bread, 
a  sort  of  thin,  rolled  pastry,  was  passed  about  in  little  bits 
with  bitter  herb  rolled  inside.  As  it  was  late  and  the  ritual 
over,  the  actual  consumption  of  the  lambs,  which  comes 
along  towards  midnight,  being  said  to  be  a  very  ordinary 
affair,  we  started  down  the  mountain  for  Nablus.  The 
moon,  now  golden,  flooded  the  beautiful  valley  with  its 
light.  Such  a  night!  We  soon  reached  our  rooms  in  the 
town  and  said  "  good  night  "  all  around. 

READING  LIST 

CUBTISS,  SAMUEL  IVES:  "Primitive  Semitic  Religion  Today." 

JESSUP,  H.  H.:  "Women  of  the  Arabs,"    N.  Y.,  1874. 

MASTERMAN,  E.  W.  G.:  "Studies  in  Galilee. 

MITCHELL  and  HANAUEB:  "Tales  Told  in  Palestine." 

FINN,  JAMES:  "Stirring  Times."  (C.  Kegan  Paul  &  Co.,  1878.) 

HOGARTH,  D.  G. :  "  The  Penetration  of  Arabia." 

MUIR,  SIB  WILLIAM:  "The  Caliphate,  Its  Rise,  Decline  and  Fall." 

SMITH,  W.  ROBERTSON  :  "  Kinship  and  Marriage  in  Early  Arabia." 

GIBBONS,  HEBBEBT  ADAMS  :  "  The  Ottoman  Turks." 


129 


THE       PEASANTRY       OF       PALESTINE 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE   BUSINESS    LIFE    OP   THE   VILLAGE 

THE  Palestine  peasant  can  do  hard  work.  When  half 
starved,  anemic,  hounded  and  terror-stricken  he  naturally 
enough  fails  to  be  as  brisk  and  as  inventive  as  he  might 
otherwise  be,  but  with  half  a  chance  he  is  industrious  and 
thrifty.  There  are  the  lazy  and  the  active  as  in  other 
countries.  As  a  general  rule  it  might  be  said  that  the  Pales- 
tinian is  accustomed  to  work  hard,  but  not  steadily;  liking 
to  rest  occasionally,  not  understanding,  nor  benefiting  by,  a 
system  of  sharp  espionage  or,  more  properly,  "  nagging." 
This  latter  frets  him  and  destroys  his  efficiency,  and  ought 
not  to  be  practised  on  him.  A  good-natured  firmness  that 
holds  him  to  the  letter  of  agreements  in  simple,  plainly 
understood  terms  is  much  better. 

(The  country  life  of  Western  Palestine  to-day  is  organized 
on  the  basis  of  farming.  The  original  estate  of  the  Arab  is 
to  own  flocks  and  tents,  with  the  auxiliary  pastimes  of 
raiding  and  hunting.  This  life  is  represented  to-day  by  the 
nomad  tribes  of  the  Syrian  desert  and  of  Arabia.  They  still 
roam  over  Eastern  Palestine  and  penetrate  into  Western 
Palestine,  but  their  range  is  being  narrowed  in  these  regions 
by  the  pressure  of  the  Turkish  government,  which  is  organiz- 
ing the  country  more  closely  in  favor  of  its  own  authority. 
The  transition  stage  between  herding  and  agriculture  may 
be  seen  in  the  Jordan  Valley  and  eastward,  where  the  nomads 
and  the  village  peasants  go  into  partnership  together  to 
raise  grain.  Ordinarily  a  desert  nomad  scorns  the  farmer 
and  villager,  but  there  are  Bedawin  farmers  who  are  a  sort 
of  industrial  bridge  between  the  civilization  of  the  villagers 
and  the  primitive  freedom  of  the  dwellers  in  tents  farther 

130 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

east  and  south.1  The  breeding  of  horses  and  camels  falls 
to  the  nomad,  while  the  rearing  of  sheep,  goats  and  cattle 
is  the  vocation  of  the  villager.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say 
that  a  scattered  farm  life,  with  dwellings  far  apart,  as  in 
Europe  and  America,  is  not  known  in  Palestine,  since  the 
country  is  not  yet  secure  enough  to  encourage  it. 

The  farmers  (fellahin)  are  the  foundation  of  the  village 
population.  Their  lands  lie  out  around  the  village  and  may 
extend  a  considerable  distance  from  it.2  It  will  be  well  to 
understand  the  system  of  landholdings  in  Palestine.  There 
are  three  kinds  of  landholdings  to  be  distinguished,  wakf, 
mulk  and  mireh.  Wakf  land  is  land  that  is  held  in  perpetual 
and  inalienable  right  by  some  ecclesiastical  establishment,  as, 
for  instance,  the  properties  of  the  Jerusalem  Mosk, "  The  Dome 
of  the  Rock,"  or  the  landed  properties  of  the  Hebron  Mosk, 
which  is  a  very  wealthy  foundation.  Or  wakf  land  may 
belong  to  a  school  or  other  institution,  or  to  a  family.  Wakf 
land  is  supposed  never  to  change  its  character.  If  it  belongs 
to  a  family  there  is  an  elder  of  the  family  or  some  representa- 
tive who  is  the  wakf  administrator. 

Mulk  land  is  absolutely  free  and  transferable  land.  It  is 
usually  in  a  city  or  a  village,  or  it  may  be  in  a  certain  border 
around  such  a  place  of,  say,  forty  yards  in  width.  This  is 
house  and  garden  property  for  the  actual  needs  of  city  or 
village  life.  It  can  be  sold  or  otherwise  transferred  at  the 
pleasure  of  its  owners.  Such  a  piece  of  property  pays  an 
extra  tax  where  a  house  is  built  on  it,  as  the  occupancy  of 
the  land  by  a  building  prevents  that  land  from  yielding 
taxable  produce. 

Mireh  land  is  domanial  or  state  land.  The  ultimate  title 
is  with  the  state,  to  whom  it  reverts  in  the  event  of  the  failure 
of  proper  heirs.  There  are  nine  degrees  of  heirs  eligible  as 
owners  of  such  land,  children,  grandchildren,  brothers'  chil- 
dren and  grandchildren  and  so  on;  lastly  the  wife  of  the 
1  Cf.  Job  1:  1-3,  etc.  2  Josh.  21:  12. 

131 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

owner,  if  all  the  other  degrees  fail.  If  the  land  is  sold,  then 
the  degrees  count  from  the  new  owner  and  go  right  through 
the  nine  degrees  from  him.  So  it  is  very  possible  that 
mireh  land  may  be  in  continuous  ownership  other  than  the 
state's. 

Village  cultivable  lands  are  mireh  lands.  In  cases  where 
they  are  village  lands  they  are  held  as  communal  lands.  In 
villages  like  Ram  Allah  and  el-Bireh  the  land  that  is  held 
thus  in  common  as  cultivable  land  is  divided  into  three 
grades  according  to  quality.  Then  each  grade  is  divided 
into  fedddns.  A  fedddn  is,  in  the  first  instance,  a  team  or 
yoke;  in  Ram  Allah,  four  yoked  cattle.  Feddan  then  comes 
to  mean  the  amount  of  land  apportioned  to  the  owner  of 
such  an  equipment,  which  amount  is  presumably  as  much  as 
the  feddan  of  cattle  could  plow  in  a  day.  Finally  the  term 
feddan  is  used  by  the  peasants  to  indicate  the  acknowledged 
right  of  a  village  farmer  to  own  and  work  his  plow  and  team 
and  participate  in  the  annual  divisions  of  the  arable  land 
of  the  farming  community.  The  feddan  is  the  unit,  but  one 
feddan  may  be  shared  by  several  owners,  each  partner  con- 
tributing his  share  to  the  outfit  and  being  recorded  as  en- 
titled to  privileges  in  the  feddan.  These  legal  fellah  in,  then, 
receive  by  lot  as  their  assignment  for  the  year  some  of  each 
quality  of  land.  Hence  the  man,  or  family,  or  company 
interested  in  one  fedddn  may  have  land  here,  there  and  in  a 
third  place.  A  deep  furrow,  the  width  of  a  plow,  marks  the 
boundary  between  the  different  strips.  Or  a  succession  of 
small  heaps  of  stones  may  mark  the  line.1  The  workers  on 
such  a  strip  or  strips  pay  the  government  taxes  or  tithes  on 
the  produce  of  their  land. 

To  obtain  a  place  in  the  list  of  such  fellahin  and  share  in 
the  use  of  the  communal  lands  is  a  matter  of  some  complexity 
and  difficulty  and,  perhaps,  of  serious  discussion  amounting 
to  a  quarrel.  A  stranger  coming  to  the  village  to  live  cannot 

1  Deut.  27:  17. 
132 


A    SOWER 


CHILDREN    GLEANING 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

ordinarily  enter  into  the  land  privileges.  A  newcomer  may 
occasionally  be  worked  into  a  privileged  family  by  marriage. 
The  old  families  of  the  villages,  having  had  these  land  rights 
for  years,  hold  them  tenaciously.  Newcomers  are  ordinarily 
compelled  to  turn  to  some  other  business,  to  open  a  shop  or 
go  into  some  kind  of  manufacture.  By  a  difficult  procedure, 
eased  with  money,  communal  land  may  become  the  private 
property  of  one  person  and  be  made  into  a  vineyard  or  an 
orchard. 

It  is  customary,  under  intelligent  management,  to  let  the 
village  grain  lands  rest  every  other  year.1  Dressing  the 
land  is  not  resorted  to.  The  limestone  in  the  soil  supplies 
to  some  extent  this  lack.  Distinctively  farm-buildings,  such 
as  barns,  etc.,  are  scarcely  to  be  seen  unless  it  be  at  some 
farm-school  or  foreign  colony. 

Wheat  and  barley  are  the  common  grains.  The  peasant 
knows  nothing  of  oats.  Of  hay,  as  the  Western  farmer 
raises  it,  he  is  likewise  ignorant.  Large  quantities  of  dhurah 
are  raised.  This  is  a  kind  of  millet.  The  early  part  of  the 
winter  is  the  time  for  sowing  wheat,  or,  as  the  natives  say, 
"  When  the  thirst  of  the  land  is  quenched."2  Barley, 
which  matures  quicker,  is  sown  a  little  later  than  wheat. 
In  broadcast  sowing  of  grain  the  farmer  sows  first  and  plows 
afterward.3  He  starts  early  with  his  companions  for  the 
field,  a  little  donkey  carrying  the  plow  and  the  seed-bags. 
The  plow  animals  are  usually  unencumbered  while  going  to 
and  from  the  fields.  Arrived  at  the  field  the  donkey  is 
turned  loose  to  browse,4  the  men  throw  aside  their  upper 
garments  and  tuck  the  corners  of  their  skirts  into  their 
belts.  The  sower 5  goes  ahead,  tossing  the  grain  as  evenly  as 
possible  over  the  ground,  while  the  plowman  follows  and  turns 
it  under.  There  is  generally  a  good  deal  of  shouting  on  the 
part  of  the  plowman  in  directing  or  stimulating  his  animals. 

1  Cf.  Jer.  4:  3;  Hosea  10:  12.  2  Cf.  Psalm  63:  1.  3  Cf.  Isa.  28:  24, 
25.  4  Job  1:14.  6  Matt.  13:3. 

133 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

This  talk  to  the  domestic  creatures  is  interesting.  Here 
are  some  samples:  To  start  a  mule  the  expression  used  is 
dih;  to  stop  it,  hus.  To  start  a  donkey,  he,  and  to  stop,  htsh. 
An  ox  is  encouraged  to  go  by  imshi  or  itla,  and  commanded 
to  stand  by  huwwa.  So  there  are  appropriate  words  or 
sounds  for  the  different  creatures.  To  make  a  camel  kneel 
the  driver  says  ikh;  to  make  him  rise,  hawwil,  and  to  walk, 
hay.  A  horse  is  stopped  by  hus  and  started  with  a  sucking 
sound  of  the  tip  of  the  tongue  back  of  the  front  upper  teeth. 
Dogs  are  called  with  kity  and  sent  away  with  wisht.  Cats 
are  called  by  bis,  bis,  as  one  rubs  thumb  and  finger,  and 
scared  away  with  a  rough  biss.  Hens  are  gathered  with 
tiah,  chickens  with  sis;  both  are  driven  off  with  kish. 

If  the  rains  be  fairly  good  the  wheat  springs  up  soon, 
varying  as  to  luxuriance  with  the  richness  and  depth  of  the 
soil.  Sometimes  one  will  see  a  donkey  nibbling  at  the  tender 
tops  of  new  grain  or  animals  walking  through  it  without 
rebuke  from  the  owners.  They  seem  to  think  that  such 
things  will  not  materially  hurt  the  crop  if  done  during  the 
early  weeks  of  newly  springing  growth,  but  that  more  rain 
and  the  later  growth  will  make  up  for  the  slight  setback. 
But  when  the  grain  is  fairly  up  more  care  is  exercised.  The 
peasants  are  fairly  respectful  of  the  rights  of  the  owners  of 
the  grain  that  grows  near  the  paths  and  roads.1  One  seldom 
sees  a  passing  native  allowing  animals  to  disturb  the  green 
grain,  though  sometimes  an  insolent  soldier  will  ride  his 
horse  right  into  an  unreaped  field.  For  wheat,  especially, 
the  peasant  has  great  regard,  considering  it  a  sin  to  damage 
the  growing  wheat  or  to  waste  the  kernels  and  flour.  His 
respect  for  this  breadstuff  is  almost  awe.  A  donkey-boy 
in  attendance  on  a  party  of  tourists  who  were  going  to 
the  Valley  at  Mukhmas  (Michmash)  was  greatly  perturbed 
because  one  of  the  forward  animals  in  the  cavalcade  began 
to  nibble  some  green  wheat  by  the  wayside.  The  boy 

1  Deut.  23:  25;  cf.  Matt.  12:  1. 
134 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

shouted  out  Hardm  Alldh,  Hardm  Allah  (forbidden  of  God) 
and  stopped  the  creature  as  quickly  as  possible.  Many 
peasants  are  so  poor  that  they  have  to  substitute  barley 
bread  for  wheat,  but  ordinarily  wheat  is  the  food  of  the 
properly  fed  peasant  and  barley  the  choicest  food  for  horses, 
donkeys  and  mules.  Chopped  straw  is  also  fed  to  these 
animals.1  For  other  animals,  kursenneh,  a  grain  resembling 
lentils  in  appearance,  is  a  common  food.  Tares2  (zawdn) 
often  make  their  appearance  in  the  grain,  especially  if  the 
seed  is  not  carefully  separated  before  sowing.  If  the  tare 
seeds  are  not  taken  out  of  the  wheat  before  it  is  ground,  any 
considerable  proportion  of  it  in  the  flour  is  apt  to  cause 
dizziness  and  nausea.  The  tares  are  of  some  use,  being 
sought  as  food  for  young  chickens. 

It  is  especially  favorable  for  the  farmers  if  mists  prevail 
at  night  during  the  time  just  preceding  the  harvest.  The 
moisture  keeps  the  heads  of  the  grain  from  becoming  brittle 
and  so  allowing  the  kernels  to  rattle  out  too  easily.  Then, 
too,  the  work  of  reaping,  hard  at  best,  is  much  pleasanter  if 
the  cooler  weather  is  on  for  a  few  days.  It  is  commonly 
ordered  that  the  farmers  shall  proceed  to  reap  simultane- 
ously, and  it  is  often  forbidden  to  go  out  to  the  fields  to  reap 
until  all  are  ready.  By  this  arrangement  the  assessment 
of  the  tax  on  the  crop  may  be  made  with  more  uniformity 
and  thieving  is  rendered  difficult.  In  all  these  matters,  re- 
quiring the  regulating  authority  of  recognized  overseers,  it  is 
the  so-called  ukhtiyariyeh,  or  as  we  should  say,  selectmen, 
the  chiefs  of  the  tribes,  who  decide  questions  from  the  day 
that  the  land  was  parcelled  out  to  the  feddans  until  the  crop 
is  gathered.  The  beginning  of  the  harvest  is  a  time  of 
merry  singing  and  industrious  work.3  Women  as  well  as 
men  go  to  the  fields 4  and  often  the  babies  are  taken  along 
in  cradles.  Some  of  the  reapers  sleep  in  the  field.  The 

1  Gen.  24:  25.  2  Matt.  13:  25-30.  3  Psalm  126:  5,  6;  Isa.  9:  3.  4  Ruth 
2:  8,  9. 

135 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

barley  harvest  always  precedes  the  wheat  harvest  by  a  few 
weeks.1     In  reaping,  the  stalks  are   grasped   and  cut  low 
down  with  a   sickle.2      A  bunch  is  tied  with  a  straw  and 
thrown  into  a  heap  to  make  a  shock.     The  grain  is  carried 
to  the  threshing-floor  by  donkeys,  mules  or  camels.3     The 
animals  have  much  hard  work  during  this  season.     The 
threshing-floor  is  usually  a  smooth  plot  of  ground  near  the 
edge  of  the  village,  beaten  hard.    Very  often  a  natural  rock 
floor  may  be  utilized.     At   Baytin  (Bethel)  the   immense 
ancient  pool,  now  dry,  at  the  southwest  of  the  village,  makes 
an  excellent  threshing-floor.     On  the  floor  the  grain  is  piled 
up  in  what  look  like  huge  walls,  each  family's  crop  by  itself.4 
Watchers  sleep  on  the  floor  at  night  to  prevent  theft 5  and 
fire.      When  all  is  ready  the  families  owning  grain  on  the 
threshing-floor  throw  down  circular  beds  of  the  shocks  and 
drive  the  animals  around  upon  it.     In  the  middle  highland 
country  the  hoofs  of  the  animals  are  depended  on  alone  as 
threshing  instruments.8      But   in  the  north,  and  in  some 
other  sections,  a  sledge  is  drawn  about  by  the  animals.     In 
the  bottom  of  the  sledge  teeth  of  iron  or  stone  are  inserted, 
which  tear  the  straw.7      At  Samaria  we  saw  threshing  being 
done  with  the  sledge  and  animals  on  the  third  of  May.     In 
Ram  Allah,  where  they  use  animals  only,  and  where  the 
season  is  later,  it  may  be  observed  in  June  and  possibly  in 
July.     Even  down  on  the  plain  between  the  Shephelah  and 
Jaffa  we  saw  the  peasants  at  work  on  the  thirtieth  of  June, 
sometimes  with    a    camel  and  a  donkey  hitched  together. 
The  animals  generally  used  are  the  plow  cattle,  but    all 
animals  available  are  liable  to  be  drafted  into  the  service. 
Horses,  donkeys,  cattle  and  mules  are  to  be  seen  hitched 
together  promiscuously.8      The  mouths  of  the  animals  are 
often  muzzled  with  sacking.9     Their  drivers   follow  them 

iRuth  1:22;  2:23;  2  Sam.  21:9.  2Mark  4:29.  *  Cf.  Micah  4:12. 
4  Joel  2:  24.  61  Sam.  23:  1.  °  Cf.  Hosea  10:  11;  cf.  Micah  4:  13.  7C7. 
Isa.  41:  15.  8  Deut.  22:  10.  8  Deut.  25:  4. 

136 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

up  with  a  kind  of  basket  on  the  end  of  a  pole  to  catch  the 
manure  and  prevent  its  falling  into  the  grain.  When  thresh- 
ing begins  the  heap  of  stalks  and  heads  may  be  four  feet  high 
and  fifteen  or  more  feet  across.  Midday  is  the  best  time  for 
threshing,  as  the  stalks  are  then  brittle.  When  thoroughly 
ground  and  beaten  by  the  hoofs  of  the  threshing  animals  the 
heap  may  be  but  a  foot  deep.  When  the  process  of  threshing 
is  completed  the  resulting  mixture  of  chaff  and  grain  is 
tossed  into  the  air  so  that  the  wind  may  carry  off  the  chaff,1 
while  the  heavy  grain  falls  directly  under  the  fan  or  wooden 
fork  which  the  laborer  is  using.  The  women  then  sift  and 
clean  the  grain  with  different  grades  of  sieves  2  and  the  men 
put  it  into  sacks.  Another  more  thorough  sifting  and  clean- 
ing is  necessary  before  it  is  ground.  The  chopped  straw, 
called  tibn,  is  used  as  a  fodder  for  animals.  Some  of  the 
worst  of  the  refuse  is  burned  in  the  ovens.  The  fine  dust-like 
chaff,  called  mus,  is  also  swept  up  and  used  in  a  mixture 
with  clay  with  which  the  roofs  are  covered.  A  camel-load 
of  wheat-tibn,  two  huge  sacks,  may  cost  from  fifteen  piasters 
to  twenty-three  according  to  cleanness  and  the  size  of  the 
sacks.  The  lowest  price  that  we  ever  paid  was  thirteen  and 
one-half  piasters.  This  is  the  Jerusalem  market  piaster, 
which  equals  about  three  and  four-sevenths  cents.  The 
great  wheat-field  of  the  country  continues  to  be  the  Hauran, 
east  of  the  Sea  of  Galilee.  From  that  region  caravans  of 
camels  bring  the  sacked  wheat  into  Western  Palestine  as  far 
south  as  Jerusalem.  The  local  wheat  supply  is  entirely 
inadequate  for  the  needs  of  the  large  villages,  to  say  nothing 
of  the  cities,  and  must  be  supplemented  from  the  fields  of 
Esdraelon,  the  Maritime  Plain,  the  Gh6r  and  the  Hauran. 
When  quarantine  cuts  off  district  from  district,  as  in  cholera 
times,  the  suffering  is  considerable.  The  ordinary  country 
store-place  for  grain  is  a  cemented  cistern  underground. 
Lentils,  kursenneh  and  chick-peas,  hummus,  are  subjected 

1  Psalm  1:  4.      2  Amos  9:  9. 
137 


THE       PEASANTRY       OF       PALESTINE 

to  threshing  in  a  way  similar  to  that  in  which  wheat  and 
barley  are  treated. 

The  grape  season  is  the  happiest  of  the  year.  It  begins 
late  in  July  and  reaches  well  on  towards  the  rainy  season, 
the  first  of  November,  or  possibly  even  to  the  first  of  Decem- 
ber. It  includes  the  time  for  ripe  figs,  pomegranates, 
quinces  and  almonds.  Comparatively  few  of  the  grapes 
are  turned  into  wine  except  on  foreign  initiative.  The  Jewish 
colonies  that  have  come  into  the  country  make  considerable 
wine.  A  native  spirit  called  'arak  is  made  from  refuse 
grapes.  A  grape  molasses,  dibs,  is  made.  The  fresh  fruit 
is  consumed  in  large  quantities.  Donkeys  loaded  with  box 
panniers  of  grapes  go  as  far  as  Jaffa,  thirty-five  miles  from 
the  grape  regions.  Hebron  and  Ram  Allah  are  famous  for 
their  grapes.  Ram  Allah  is  ten  miles  north  of  Jerusalem, 
and  Hebron  (el-Khalil)  nearly  twice  as  far  south  of  the 
city.  The  Jerusalem  market  is  kept  abundantly  supplied 
with  fresh  grapes  from  these  two  places.  Whole  families  go 
to  live  in  the  vineyards  during  the  season  of  ripening  grapes. 

A  very  important  manufacture  from  grapes  is  the  raisin. 
The  business  is  growing  and  the  raisins  are  exported  from 
the  country  through  Jaffa.  The  grapes,  when  picked  from 
the  vines,  are  washed,  given  a  bath  in  a  mixture  of  lye-water 
and  olive-oil,  and  then  spread  out  on  a  cleanly  swept  space 
of  ground.  The  lye  makes  the  skins  tender  and  the  oil  tends 
to  keep  off  insects.  The  siroccos  of  September  are  of  great 
assistance  in  raisin  making,  though  not  at  all  good  for  the 
unpicked  grapes,  as  they  are  apt  to  turn  them  into  raisins  on 
the  vines.  The  favorite  raisin  of  the  country  is  that  made 
from  the  little  seedless  variety  of  grapes  from  es-Salt,  east 
of  the  Jordan.  These  grapes  go  by  the  name  bandt  esh- 
shams,  that  is,  daughters  of  the  sun.  The  next  in  favor  are 
those  of  Hebron,  where  the  larger  varieties  of  grapes,  reddish 
and  white,  are  raised,  and  where  the  raisin  making  has  been 
carried  on  for  some  time.  Third  in  quality,  perhaps,  come 

138 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

the  raisins  of  the  Ram  Allah  district,  including  Jifn&,  Bir  ez- 
Zayt,  Silw&d,  etc.,  where  the  industry  has  but  made  a  be- 
ginning. In  this  district  the  grapes  are  usually  greenish 
white  or  white,  that  is,  somewhat  similar  to  the  Malaga 
variety.  Native  business  men  of  R£m  Alldh  go  about  the 
district  paying  from  two  cents  to  three  cents  a  pound  for 
the  raisins,  subject  to  a  discount  of  ten  per  cent  for  waste. 
The  German  contractors  provide  wooden  boxes  for  packing 
the  raisins.  Women  and  girls  are  engaged  to  sort  them,  as 
they  are  brought  into  Ram  Allah  from  the  country  around, 
at  a  daily  wage  of  from  seven  to  twelve  cents.  Something 
less  than  a  third  of  a  cent  a  pound  is  paid  for  camel  transport 
to  Jaffa,  to  which  must  be  added  the  charges  at  that  port. 
On  board  ship  the  German  contractors  pay  for  the  com- 
pleted consignment  about  three  cents  a  pound,  possibly 
a  little  more.  The  native  vine  owners  think  that  they 
are  discovering  that  the  early  picking  of  the  grapes  for 
raisin  making  prevents  waste  and  saves  the  strength  of 
the  vines. 

After  the  season  the  vines  should  be  pruned  and  the 
vineyards  plowed  and  dug  over,  once  in  early  and  once  in 
late  winter.1 

In  vineyards  and  fig-orchards  one  will  notice  the  stone 
huts  called  kasr,2  plural  kusttr.  Between  seasons,  when 
they  are  not  in  use,  they  swarm  with  hungry  fleas.  Near 
each  of  them  is  a  tiny  sunken  pit,  walled  on  three  sides, 
which  makes  a  little  fireplace.  A  similar  pocket  makes  a 
hiding-place  for  dry  figs  which  are  left  here  under  slight 
pressure  beneath  a  flat  stone.  The  latter  place  is  made  to 
look  like  the  ground  about  by  covering  with  small  stones 
so  as  to  mislead  thieves.  Such  a  hiding-place  is  called  a 
mikhba.  Most  of  the  fig  crop  is  dried  for  later  use.  The 
smaller  varieties  are  most  suitable  for  this  purpose.  The 
fruit  is  picked  into  small  baskets  and  spread  out  on 

1  Cf.  Isa.  5:  6.     2  Isa.  5:  2;  Matt.  21:  33. 
139 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

the  ground.  Sometimes  the  fruit  is  crushed  by  the  hand 
to  hasten  the  drying. 

The  olive  crop  is  ready  late  in  the  autumn.  The  trees  are 
beaten  l  with  long  poles  by  the  men,  while  women  and  chil- 
dren gather  up  the  berries  from  the  ground.  Seldom  is  care 
exercised  to  select  and  sort  the  best  of  the  berries.  They  are 
piled  in  heaps  inside  the  house,  where  they  often  become 
heated  through,  thus  producing  an  inferior  quality  of  oil. 
The  berries  are  first  put  into  a  circular  stone  bed,  where  they 
are  crushed,  seed  and  all,  by  a  sort  of  millstone  set  on  edge 
and  run  like  a  wheel  around  a  central  pivot  by  a  shaft.  The 
crushed  mass  is  then  put  into  gunny  sacking  or  coarse  bas- 
kets and  carried  to  the  press.  The  oil-presses  have  always 
been  very  primitive,  bungling  affairs,  but  of  late  iron  screws 
are  being  introduced. 

When  the  grapes  have  all  been  picked  from  a  vineyard  the 
sheep  and  goats 2  are  turned  in  to  eat  the  leaves  from  the 
vines.  The  flocks  are  allowed  to  feed  in  the  wheat  and  barley- 
fields,  also,  after  the  harvest.  Goats  and  sheep  are  very 
often  seen  together  in  flocks.3  Their  keepers,  who  are 
their  inseparable  companions  through  the  day,  take  care  to 
secure  safe  folds  for  them  at  night.  A  party  of  us  were  at 
Tekua  on  the  30th  of  December,  1902.  After  examining 
the  ruins  we  turned  our  attention  to  the  modern  aspect  of 
the  place.  The  caves  and  recesses  about  the  ruins  were  used 
by  shepherds,  who  were  living  there  and  caring  for  large 
flocks.  As  the  sheep  and  goats  came  home  late  in  the 
afternoon,  the  little  lambs  and  kids,  whose  tender  days  forbade 
their  accompanying  their  mothers  to  pasture,  were  hun- 
grily awaiting  them.  There  were  about  sixty  of  these  young 
ones  skipping  about.  When  the  plaintive  cries  of  the  little 
ones  were  answered  by  the  motherly  calls  of  the  returning 
elders  there  was  considerable  excitement  and  motion  on  both 
sides,  until  by  some  mysteriously  hidden  sense  families  were 

1  Deut.  24:  20.     2  C/.  Isa.  5:5.    3  Matt.  25:  32. 
140 


THRESHING 


A    THRESHING    SCENE    IN    THE    OLD    POOL  AT   BETHEL 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

united  and  all  was  quiet  again  as  supper  progressed.  A  few 
days  later,  on  our  way  in  from  Mar  Saba,  we  saw  the  new- 
born of  the  flocks  in  the  desert  places  where  animals  were 
browsing.  The  shepherd  usually  carries  the  newly-born  in 
from  the  fields.1  Very  rarely  is  one  missed.  Once,  in  the 
valley  called  W&dy  el-'Ayn,  between  et-Tayyibeh  and  Dayr 
Diwan,  I  traced  a  little  kid  by  its  bleat,  and  seeing  no  flock 
about  carried  it  home  in  my  saddle-bags,  hoping  to  rear  it; 
but,  missing  the  peculiar  quality  of  the  new  milk  of  its 
mother,  it  did  not  survive  many  hours.  Sometimes,  in 
order  to  curb  the  inordinate  appetite  of  a  young  kid  for  the 
milk,  the  shepherd  puts  a  little  bit  in  its  mouth,  made  by  two 
pencil-like  sticks  and  secures  the  ends  by  cords  crisscrossed 
over  the  sprouting  horns. 

The  sheep  of  Palestine  have  immense  tails,  which  often 
weigh  fifteen  pounds  and  more.  In  the  Lebanon  this  weight 
is  doubled  on  the  sheep  that  are  specially  fattened  for  the 
winter  supply  of  meat.  These  sheep,  called  maluf,  are  fed 
on  the  remains  of  the  mulberry  leaves  not  devoured  by  the 
silkworms.  As  the  worms  eat  only  the  tender  parts  of  the 
leaves,  the  sheep  are  given  what  is  left.  When  the  animal 
is  so  surfeited  as  to  refuse  more  food,  an  attendant  makes 
it  her  business  to  roll  it  up  in  leaves  and  force  it  into  the 
unwilling  creature's  mouth.  The  sheep  attains  an  almost 
incredible  size  under  this  treatment. 

The  goats  have  very  long  flapping  ears,  which  often  get 
torn  in  the  briers  as  they  hold  their  heads  down  to  feed. 
On  some  breeds  the  ears  nearly,  if  not  quite,  touch  the 
ground  as  the  goats  walk  along.  Goats  and  sheep  are 
allowed  to  overrun  all  the  wild  places  for  pasture,  so  that 
any  shoots  of  trees  or  shrubs  that  start  are  nibbled  off.  They 
browse  upon  some  of  the  driest  and  least  promising  ground. 
They  flourish  best  in  the  time  of  the  rains.  As  the  country's 
surface  is  burned  over  with  the  hot  summer  and  autumn,  the 

1  Isa.  40: 11. 
141 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

flocks  are  driven  to  the  few  moist  valleys.1  Most  frequently 
a  boy  is  in  charge  of  a  smaller  flock.2  He  whiles  away 
some  of  his  time  on  a  reed  flute.3  If  his  animals  get  too 
far  from  him,  or  go  in  the  wrong  direction,  he  heads  them 
off  with  a  call  and  by  dropping  a  stone  from  his  sling,4  or 
hand,  just  beyond  them  in  the  forbidden  direction.  The 
shepherd's  usual  weapon  is  a  heavy  oaken  club,  called 
locally  dibbusy  from  its  resemblance  in  shape  to  a  pin,  the 
long  handle  being  ended  in  a  round,  heavy  knob.  This  club 
is  under  three  feet  in  length  and  weighs  from  one  to  two 
pounds.  It  is  a  powerful  weapon.  Often,  too,  a  shepherd 
will  carry  one  of  those  long,  rickety,  brassbound  muskets 
that  look  very  dangerous,  —  for  the  manipulator.  A  leath- 
ern pouch,  flint  and  steel,  a  knife  and  a  sling  of  woolen  yarn 
complete  the  outfit,  except  the  actual  clothing.  The  main 
garment  is  a  long  cotton  shirt  that  comes  to  the  knees, 
belted  with  a  leathern  belt.  For  sleeping  and  for  rainy 
weather  the  homespun  woolen  overcoat,  called  an  'dbdyeh, 
is  worn.  Shoes  and  head-dress  finish  off  the  man,  who  is  the 
loneliest  of  Syrians,  though  he  sings  and  plays  and  talks  to 
his  animals.  Sometimes,  as  you  see  him  in  silhouette  against 
the  sky-line,  he  seems  to  be  transfixed  on  the  club  or  musket 
on  which  he  leans,  so  long  does  he  stand  unchanged.  When 
he  moves  it  is  with  singularly  slow  movements. 

Besides  meat  and  milk,  which  both  goats  and  sheep  pro- 
vide, the  sheep  produce  wool.  Considerable  raw  wool  is 
bought  by  the  weavers  of  the  village.  A  man  in  Ram 
Allah,  whose  house  abuts  unpleasantly  on  more  valuable 
property,  refuses  to  sell  it  to  a  well-to-do  neighbor 5  because 
it  is  on  the  outskirts  where  he  is  in  a  position  to  get  first 
chance  at  those  who  come  into  the  village  from  that  direction 
to  sell  fleeces.  The  wool  is  washed,  combed,  dyed  and  spun 
into  thread  by  the  villagers.  We  had  occasion  to  purchase 

1  Psalm  23:  2.  2  Cf.  1  Sam.  17:  28.  3  Judges  5:  16.  4 1  Sam.  17: 
40.  8C/.  1  Kings  21:  3. 

142 


1. — HAND    SPINNING  2. — REELING 

3.— STRAIGHTENING    THREADS    FOR    THE    LOOM 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

a  lot  of  wool  in  fleeces  for  mattresses.  We  bought  five  hun- 
dred and  ten  pounds  at  eleven  cents  per  pound,  but  after  a 
thorough  cleansing  we  found  that  the  lot  weighed  four  hun- 
dred and  twenty-six.  Having  purchased  ticking  for  mat- 
tresses, quilts  and  pillows,  and  cotton  for  filling  the  quilts, 
our  next  step  was  to  engage  the  services  of  the  mattress- 
maker  from  Jerusalem.  His  name  was  Baruch,  a  Spanish  or 
Sephardim  Jew,  tall,  wiry  and  dark,  with  stooping  shoulders 
and  remarkably  successful  in  getting  hold  of  one's  hand  and 
planting  on  it  a  reverential  kiss  before  his  object  was  dis- 
covered. The  kiss  felt  and  sounded  like  the  bursting  of  a 
smoke-ball.  He  came  for  a  few  days'  stay,  bringing  his  tools 
and  a  boy  helper  with  him.  The  most  novel  of  the  imple- 
ments was  one  shaped  like  a  huge  bow  which  is  used  in  fluffing 
up  cotton  or  wool.  It  might  be  compared  to  an  attenuated 
single-stringed  harp.  It  is  held  in  the  hand  by  the  wooden 
part,  the  string  resting  in  the  cotton.  By  striking  the  cord 
with  a  wooden  mallet,  a  vibration  is  set  going  that  twangs 
musically  and  throws  the  cotton  into  a  light,  billowy  mass. 
He  is  very  skilful  with  his  needles.  He  would  sew  and  quilt 
nearly  twenty  hours  out  of  the  twenty-four  in  his  haste  to 
complete  the  task  and  get  back  to  Jerusalem.  We  were  put 
to  it  to  feed  him  properly,  as  certain  things  were  unlawful 
for  him  to  receive  and  eat  from  our  hands.  But  eggs,  olives, 
bread  and  tomatoes  were  acceptable.  In  case  of  a  doubt  con- 
cerning an  article  of  food  we  simply  asked  him  whether  it 
was  lawful  or  not.  He  was  very  gentle  and  pleasing.  We 
had  to  be  careful  to  see  that  he  did  not  go  to  sleep  among 
his  inflammable  materials  and  leave  the  lamps  burning 
according  to  Oriental  practise. 

When  otherwise  unemployed  a  villager  will  spin  off  a  ball 
of  yarn  by  hand.  Two  sticks,  like  thick  pencils,  are  laid 
one  across  the  other  at  right  angles.  This  makes  the  bobbin. 
The  upright  one  is  notched  at  the  top  to  catch  the  thread 
when  needful.  A  hank  of  clean  wool  is  disposed  over  the 

143 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

left  forearm.  A  little  of  this  is  started  through  the  fingers 
of  the  two  hands.  It  is  then  caught  on  the  notched  end  of 
the  bobbin,  which  is  given  a  whirl  and  allowed  to  hang 
down,  while  the  hands  play  out  the  twisting  yarn  to  govern 
the  thickness.  When  the  bobbin  carrying  the  spinning  yarn 
has  reached  the  ground,  the  amount  of  yarn  already  made  is 
wound  up  on  it  and  caught  at  the  notch.  The  whirling, 
feeding  out  and  spinning  go  on  until  a  ball  of  yarn  is 
produced. 

The  looms  are  primitive  and  heavy.  They  are  constructed 
in  the  dark  room  which  serves  as  the  weaver's  house.  A  pit 
is  made  for  him  to  sit  in,  and  only  the  light  from  the  door 
falls  on  his  work.  Cotton  and  wool  fabrics  of  heavy  texture 
are  produced.  The  heavy  woolen  'abayeh  is  the  chief  gar- 
ment made  by  the  peasant  weavers.  The  light-weight  cloth 
for  the  other  garments  is  purchased  from  the  city  shops. 
Coarse  rugs  are  made  on  a  still  more  primitive  loom,  which  is 
often  seen  out-of-doors,  especially  among  the  Bedawin. 

The  land  of  Palestine  bears  abundant  evidence  of  a  higher 
state  of  cultivation  once  upon  a  time  than  that  of  the  present 
day.  Remains  of  villas,  terrace  walls  and  numerous  ce- 
mented cisterns  to  catch  rain-water  are  observable.  The 
soil  lacks  only  water  to  produce  abundantly.  For  the  most 
part  the  list  of  things  grown  has  narrowed  to  those  requiring 
the  least  care  and  capital.  Where  springs  are  plentiful,  and 
where  the  people  have  a  little  ambition,  a  variety  of  vege- 
tables and  fruits  are  cultivated.  But  because  of  the  uncer- 
tainty of  the  amount  and  incidence  of  the  tax  there  is  little 
incentive.  In  the  neighborhood  of  Jaffa  some  of  the  finest 
oranges  in  the  world  are  raised.  The  Sidon  oranges  come 
next  in  desirability.  The  Jordan  Valley  is  one  of  the  richest 
garden  spots  imaginable.  The  vine  is  perfectly  at  home  in 
the  lime  country  of  the  highlands,  as  are  the  fig  and  the 
olive.1  This  same  region  is  excellently  well  adapted  to  silk 

1  Deut.  8:  8. 
144 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

culture,  and  might  exceed  the  Lebanon  in  this  respect,  though 
scarcely  a  dream  of  such  a  possibility  is  indulged  in  Palestine. 
The  gardens  of  Urtas,  near  Solomon's  Pool,  of  'Ayn  Karim, 
of  Silwan  (Siloam)  and  of  Jenin  might  with  encouragement 
be  matched  hundreds  of  times.  Around  Haifa,  and  on  the 
way  to  'Athlit,  the  Germans  have  shown  what  improve- 
ments are  possible.  There  is  also  the  fine  agricultural  farm 
at  Jaffa,  called  Mikweh  Israel,  or  Natur's,  under  French 
management.  By  pools  and  cisterns,  conduits  and  irriga- 
tion, the  peasant  farmers  could  make  garden  spots  where 
now  to  the  eye  of  the  stranger  all  looks  hopeless.  The 
peculiar  powdery  effect  of  lime  rock,  and  the  countless  tons 
of  small  stones  constantly  breaking  up  and  showing  on  the 
surface  of  the  ground,  look,  but  are  not  necessarily,  for- 
bidding. 

The  market  of  a  village  is  usually  its  chief  street,  in  which 
the  buyers  and  sellers  meet  each  other,  where  the  laden 
animals  from  the  country  about  come  with  goods,  and  where 
people  bent  on  business  are  most  apt  to  meet  those  who  can 
serve  them.  Shops  and  storerooms  line  the  market  street. 
The  Arab  name  for  this  interesting  locality  is  suk.  Thither 
the  gardener  takes  such  of  his  produce  as  he  cannot  himself 
use,  and  if  he  be  not  a  merchant  himself,  puts  it  into  the  care 
of  one  who  is,  on  commission.  Venders  of  fabrics,  pottery, 
breadstuffs  and  meats  assemble  here  and  display  their  goods. 
The  shopkeepers  naturally  seek  localities  in  the  market  street 
and,  when  space  fails  there,  in  the  adjacent  streets.  If 
there  are  a  number  of  tribes  in  the  village,  each  tribe,  in  its 
own  section,  may  have  stores  for  the  supply  of  the  simple 
stock  of  foodstuffs  required.  A  shop  or  store  is  a  little  room 
from  six  to  a  dozen  feet  square,  with  a  door,  seldom  a  window, 
a  counter  and  the  necessary  bins  and  shelves.  What  we 
should  call  a  grocery  store  will  keep  in  stock  sugar,  flour, 
oil,  matches  and  possibly  grain.  Some  simple  candies,  some 
spice,  starch,  dried  fruit,  coffee  and  rice  may  complete  the 

145 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

list.  The  scales  will  be  on  the  counter.  No  wrapping-paper 
need  be  used,  as  the  purchaser  brings  his  own  dish  if  he  be 
purchasing  a  liquid,  and  if  not,  carries  his  purchases  in  the 
skirt  of  his  dress  or  in  a  handkerchief.  The  sugar  comes  in  a 
huge  loaf  covered  with  blue  paper.  Salt  is  heavily  taxed  by 
the  government.  Tobacco  is  a  government  monopoly  and 
to  be  sold  only  by  a  specially  authorized  merchant,  who  wears 
a  brown  coat  as  a  sort  of  uniform  designating  him  and  his 
rights.  Such  a  shop  as  has  been  described  may  add  cotton 
cloth  and  thread  to  its  stock.  Shoe  shops  confine  them- 
selves to  the  making  and  displaying  of  peasant  shoes.  The 
weaver  of  cloth  and  'abdyehs  ordinarily  has  no  separate  place 
of  sale,  but  sells  from  the  loom-room  or  else  makes  a  journey 
to  the  villages  about  and  displays  the  goods  in  their  market 
streets.  The  shops  have  their  regular  customers,  to  whom 
they  sell  on  credit,  with  some  favor  and  less  haggling  than  is 
customary  with  other  purchasers.  The  butcher  hangs  his 
freshly-slaughtered  sheep  on  hooks  in  the  side  wall  of  the 
market  street  and  sells  at  a  uniform  price  per  rutl  or  okkiyeh 
any  part  of  the  creature.  Perhaps  he  has  not  killed  until 
there  is  a  likelihood  of  demands  enough  for  meat  to  warrant 
the  venture.  If  local  restrictions  do  not  hinder,  the  butcher 
may  kill  and  dress  his  animals  right  in  the  market  street. 

The  traders  are  keen  and  allow  no  points  of  advantage  to 
escape  their  notice.  In  fact,  the  conversation  of  the  common 
people  of  the  country  is  in  terms  of  the  currency  and  con- 
cerns the  ins  and  outs  of  bargaining,  loss  and  gain.  Some- 
times, in  the  heat  of  trading,  the  parties  appear  to  rise  into 
a  frenzy  of  altercation.  But  nothing  is  ever  settled  at  this 
high  tension.  After  a  few  seconds  of  comparative  calm  the 
haggling  and  controversy  begin  again  and  an  attempt  is 
made  to  find  a  common  basis  of  argument  in  which  neither 
party  may  yield  too  much.  The  difference  between  whole- 
sale and  retail  business  is  not  very  clearly  recognized  in  the 
villages.  Few  peasant  producers  know  what  their  own 

146 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

expense  has  been  in  the  production  of  their  commodities. 
Striking  a  bargain  is  a  tedious  process  to  the  stranger,  but 
an  exercise  of  great  interest  to  the  native  and  full  of  possi- 
bilities. He  declares  that  the  business  arrangement  shall  be 
as  you  like,  utterly.  He  is  a  servant  of  God,  he  seeks  not 
money  but  your  happiness,  your  good- will.  Is  not  that  the 
sweetest  possession,  the  love  and  favor  of  brothers?  If  it  is 
a  house  that  you  are  trying  to  rent  at  a  decent  price,  he  says, 
"  What  is  such  a  thing  as  that  between  us?  Take  it  for 
nothing."1  An  utter  stranger  once  came  to  my  door  with 
a  young  gazel  which  he  had  found  in  the  wilderness.  He 
declared  that  it  was  a  present  to  me.  I  offered  him  forty 
cents  for  it  and  he  demanded  sixty.  I  gave  him  the  forty, 
however,  promising  the  other  twenty  if  the  little  creature 
lived. 

Measures  and  weights  vary  as  between  villages.  In  the 
cities  the  French  system  prevails,  but  in  the  country  the 
peasantry  persist  in  the  use  of  the  variable  weights  and 
measures.  Many  things  are  weighed  which  with  us  are 
measured,  as,  for  example,  olive-oil  and  vegetables.  The 
okkiyeh  approximates  a  half  pound.  Six  of  these  okkiyehs 
equal  an  okka,  and  two  okkas  equal  a  rutl.  One  hundred 
rutls  equal  a  kontdr.  The  linear  measure  of  one  dhrd*  or  drd* 
equals  about  twenty-seven  inches.  The  grain  measure, 
called  sd\  is  the  least  regular  of  all.  The  Ram  Allah  sa', 
for  example,  is  a  little  larger  than  the  Jerusalem  sae  and 
more  than  double  that  of  Tayyibeh. 

In  theory  the  coinage  of  the  country  consists  of  the  Turkish 
gold  pound  of  one  hundred  piasters,  the  silver  mejideh  of 
twenty  piasters,  the  half  and  quarter  silver  mejideh,  the 
silver  double  piaster,  piaster  and  half  piaster.  There  are 
also  coins  of  nickel  and  copper  alloy,  one  called  bishlik,  which 
equals  two  and  a  half  piasters,  a  double  bishlik,  called  wazary 
in  Jerusalem  and  zahrdweh  at  Haifa,  a  half  bishlik,  a  half 

1  Gen.  23:11,  15. 
147 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

piaster  and  a  quarter  piaster.  There  are  some  copper  coins 
of  small  value.  This  list  and  these  values  are  according  to 
the  government  standard,  which  is  called  sdght  and  they 
hold  for  all  payments  of  taxes,  for  the  post  and  telegraph 
and  for  legal  business.  For  ordinary  trade  in  the  country, 
though  these  same  coins  are  used,  different  values  are  as- 
signed to  them.  Thus  Hebron,  Jerusalem  and  other  places 
have  their  own  systems  of  reckoning.  In  Jerusalem  the 
tariff  sherk,  or  market,  as  it  is  called,  makes  the  mejideh 
twenty-three  piasters  instead  of  twenty  as  in  government 
reckoning.  The  result  is  a  diminution  of  the  piaster  and  an 
increase  in  the  number  of  them  in  each  of  the  coins  men- 
tioned above.  The  Turkish  gold  pound  is  not  seen  in  the 
country,  but  the  gold  twenty-franc  pieces  of  the  Latin 
Monetary  Union  are  frequently  seen  and  go  by  the  name 
lireh  fransaweh  or  nubalyon  (Napoleon) .  This  coin  equals  one 
hundred  and  nine  piasters  according  to  the  Jerusalem 
market  rate. 

Change  is  seldom  made  for  the  large  coins  except  in  the 
better  city  shops,  but  must  be  purchased  of  the  money- 
changers who  sit  behind  their  little  tables  at  different  points 
on  the  main  streets.  A  very  common  rate  for  change  is  the 
charge  of  a  piaster  and  a  half  for  changing  the  Napoleon  into 
small  money.  In  the  villages  the  storekeepers  sell  change. 

The  peasants  refuse  to  accept  damaged  coin  or  any  coins 
that  arouse  their  suspicions  as  to  genuineness  or  weight.  A 
few  coins  are  less  acceptable  in  some  sections  than  in  others. 
The  big  copper  coin  called  the  kobbuk,  worth  five  paras  in 
Jerusalem,  is  not  used  in  Beirut,  and  conversely  the  nehdsy 
of  Beirut  and  vicinity  is  not  used  at  Jerusalem.  When  the 
new  style  metlik  had  been  issued  by  the  government  and 
had  been  in  use  in  Constantinople  for  some  time,  it  was 
slowly  gaining  favor  in  Beirut  and  was  being  refused  in 
Palestine  except  in  a  few  places,  where  it  was  taken  at  a 
discount  of  one-fifth  from  its  legal  value. 

148 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

A  primitive  method  of  keeping  a  record  was  seen  at  the 
village  of  et-Tayyibeh.  A  small  bow  was  made  from  a  twig 
and  on  the  cord  was  strung  a  lot  of  paper  slips.  Every  slip 
contained  the  names  of  five  Tayyibeh  men.  The  whole  vil- 
lage was  thus  divided  up  into  groups  of  five.  Whenever 
soldiers  coming  from  Jerusalem  were  quartered  on  the  vil- 
lagers one  of  these  groups  was  responsible  for  feeding  the 
soldiers.  Each  group  took  its  turn.  Another  bow,  string 
and  bunch  of  written  slips  represented  the  order  of  turns  of 
the  citizens  for  feeding  the  soldiers'  horses. 

/  Money  lending  is  common  among  the  country  people  and 
often  the  rates  are  very  high.  Seldom  is  the  rate  less  than 
ten  per  cent,  and  more  often  it  is  twenty.  A  clever  man 
possessed  of  a  small  capital  multiplies  it  rapidly  by  judicious 
loans,  though  it  must  be  confessed  that  the  gambling  element 
enters  pretty  largely  into  the  business.  Some  possessors  of 
ready  money  invest  it  in  the  form  of  advances  to  owners  of 
future  crops,  taking  their  pay  in  the  crop  when  harvested. 
This  is  often  done  when  soldiers,  representing  the  govern- 
ment, descend  on  a  village  and  demand  the  taxes.  The 
peasants  in  seeking  the  ready  money  with  which  to  pay  are 
compelled  to  dispose  of  barley  and  other  produce  cheap. 

Often  of  an  evening  one  will  hear  the  crier  publishing 
something  of  general  concern  to  the  villagers.  In  Ram 
Allah  this  officer,  called  ndtur,  and  chosen  by  the  shaykhs, 
receives  a  yearly  allowance  of  seventy  mejidehs.  The  tribal 
elders  decide  upon  some  matter  for  general  observance  and 
the  crier  makes  it  known.  For  instance,  when  an  especially 
dry  season  was  on,  the  village  crier  was  heard  proclaiming 
that  no  woman  should  draw  more  than  one  jar  of  water 
from  the  springs  at  a  time.  If  any  woman  were  caught 
offending  the  extra  jar  would  be  broken  and  a  fine  of  a 
bishlik  (eleven  cents)  imposed.  At  another  time  it  was  for- 
bidden the  people  to  harvest  the  olives  until  a  certain  date. 
Lost  articles  are  advertised  by  the  criers,  and  those  lounging 

149 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

about  in  the  evening  are  kept  in  touch  with  business  news, 
as  the  voice  penetrates  all  quarters  of  the  village. 

The  go-between,  or  wastt,  is  a  familiar  figure  in  Syrian 
business  matters.  A  merchant  from  Nazareth  explained  to 
me  the  popularity  of  this  intermediary  thus:  "  If  there  are 
two  men,  each  wanting  something  of  the  other  and  neither 
wishing  to  express  his  whole  mind  before  the  other  has  done 
so,  they  can  avoid  the  difficulty  by  employing  a  third  person 
to  whom  each  unbosoms  freely,  and  this  third  person,  pos- 
sessing the  secrets  of  both,  knows  how  to  approach  either 
one  with  the  business  of  the  other."1 

The  village  shaykhs  are  agents  in  many  business  matters. 
The  shaykh  is  chief  of  his  family  or  tribe  in  all  matters  need- 
ing a  representative.  The  position  often  goes  from  father 
to  son,  if  the  ability  which  secured  the  position  for  the  father 
be  a  characteristic  of  the  son.  Or  it  may  go  to  some  other 
near  of  kin  to  the  former  shaykh.  The  shaykhs  are  some- 
times chosen  by  acclamation  or  by  general  consent  and  are 
recorded  by  the  general  government.  The  shaykh  is  in 
charge  of  the  guest-room  of  his  tribe.  Here  it  is  that  out- 
of-town  business  men  are  taken,  especially  if  they  have  come 
to  buy  commodities  of  the  village.  When  the  soldiers  are 
sent  by  the  government  to  a  village  with  a  levy  they  are 
entertained  at  the  guest-house.  The  shaykhs  of  the  different 
tribes  in  the  village  deal  with  the  soldiers.  The  amount  of 
money  asked  of  the  village  is  apportioned  between  the 
shaykhs  representing  the  tribes.  Each  shaykh  distributes 
his  apportionment  to  the  members  of  his  own  tribe.  If  any 
man  prove  obstinate  in  meeting  his  obligations  he  is  turned 
over  by  the  shaykh  to  the  soldiers,  who  may  beat  him  or 
carry  him  off  to  prison.  If  the  government  seeks  an  offender 
in  the  village  it  does  so  through  the  shaykh  of  the  offender's 
tribe. 

Where  there  are  a  number  of  shaykhs,  in  dealings  with  the 

1  Cf.  Job  9:  33;  also  Gal.  3:  19;  1  Tim.  2:  5;  Heb.  8:  6;  9: 15;  12:  24. 

150 


VARIOUS  ARTICLES  MADE  OF  SKIN:    BOTTLES,  BAGS,  POUCHES  AND  BUCKETS 

The  background  is  formed  by  a  large  straw  floor  mat,  such  as  used  in  the  guest  rooms. 
(From  the  Hartford  Theological  Seminary  Collection.) 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

government,  the  village  is  represented  by  one  or  more  of  the 
number  who  go  by  the  name  mukhtdr.  So  in  R£m  Allah 
there  are  three  of  these  mukhtars,  one  for  the  Greeks,  one  for 
the  Roman  Catholics  and  one  for  the  Protestants  of  the 
village.  The  last  two  are  a  concession  to  the  interests  of 
those  who  might  not  be  fairly  represented  by  the  first 
mukhtar. 

The  stone  and  building  trades  are  highly  respected  in- 
dustries among  the  peasants.  In  a  typical  peasant  house 
there  is  scarcely  any  woodwork  to  be  done  except  to  set  up  a 
heavy  door.  The  windows,  if  there  are  any,  are  small  light- 
holes  merely.  Quarrying,  stone-dressing  and  construction 
are  carried  on  in  every  large  village.  The  highlands  have 
yielded  inexhaustible  supplies  of  building  material  from  time 
immemorial.  Limestone  may  be  found  and  burned  any- 
where.1 The  kilns  are  usually  built  in  valleys  or  on  their 
sides,  where  it  is  possible  to  dig  a  good-sized  pit  before 
building  up  the  circular  stone  walls,  and  where  the  draft 
will  be  good. 

A  kontdr  of  lime  is  one  hundred  twenty  rutls  (seven  hundred 
fifty  pounds)  instead  of  the  usual  one  hundred  rutls,  and 
costs  about  a  dollar  delivered.  The  master  workers  in  lime 
and  stone  and  cement  receive  from  seventy-five  cents  to  a 
dollar  and  ten  cents  per  day  in  the  villages.  Their  helpers 
receive  from  twenty-five  cents  upwards,  according  to  the 
grade  of  work. 

As  the  common  name  for  stone  is  hajar,  the  place  where 
stone  is  found,  the  quarry,  is  called  mahjar,  the  prefix  m 
conveying  the  sense  of  locality.  Rough,  undressed  stone 
blocks  are  called  debsh.  Those  roughly  squared,  but  un- 
dressed, are  called  khdmy.  Dressed  building-stones  are 
called  hajar.  Flat  flagstones  are  called  baldt.  Stone  cut  for 
arches  goes  by  the  name  makddam  (singular,  makdum). 

The  limestone  of  the  country  is  found  in  several  grades  of 

1  Isa.  33: 12. 
151 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

hardness  and  desirability  for  different  kinds  of  building.  The 
very  best  stone  for  house  building  is  a  hard  white  limestone 
which  holds  well  with  lime  cement  and  is  known  as  mizzy 
hulu.  Mizzy  ahmar  is  very  similar,  but  of  a  brownish-red 
color.  The  softer  limestone  is  called  kukuly.  The  stronger 
kind  is  yellowish,  kukuly  asfar;  the  other  kind,  a  white  stone, 
kukuly  abyad.  Malakeh  is  a  pretty,  brilliant,  white  stone 
used  decoratively  in  finishing  over  doors  and  windows.  The 
very  hard  flint  suwwdn  would  ordinarily  be  unmanageable 
for  building  purposes.  Nary  is  a  soft,  easily  crumbled  stone 
that  cements  together  in  a  compact  mass  with  lime  and  is 
used  in  filling  in  the  core  of  house  walls  and  in  arches 
supporting  the  house  floors  (mustaby)  above  the  cellars. 
Hethydn  is  similar  to  ndry,  but  even  softer  and  reddish.  Hu- 
wdrah  is  really  decomposed  stone,  very  soft,  used  as  a  top 
dressing  in  building  roads,  where  it  settles  into  a  natural 
cement,  mingling  with  broken  rock  and  soil.  Soil  is  called 
trdb  and  a  derivative  from  it,  trdby,  is  used  colloquially  to 
designate  clay  and  wet  earth  as  materials  in  building. 
Lime  is  known  as  shld  and  mortar  as  tin.  Cement  goes  by 
an  imported  name  shementu,  or  homrah,  literally  the  red  dust 
of  pounded  pottery.  The  hard  cement,  called  kahly,  used  in 
pointing  the  house  walls,  is  made  of  lime,  hamrah,  that  is, 
pounded  pottery,  and  nehdteh,  the  dust  that  falls  from  the 
work  of  the  stone-dressers'  tools.  Plaster  is  called  kasdreh  or 
iksdreh,  and  whitewash,  trdsheh.  Tile  and  brick  go  by 
the  name  kermid.  The  heavy  iron  hammer  with  which 
rough  stone  is  squared  into  workable  shape  is  called  the 
shakuf.  The  rds  is  a  heavy  sort  of  iron  hammer  with  pointed 
ends  of  steel  used  as  a  pick.  The  hammer  used  to  drive  the 
chisels  and  occasionally  to  do  slight  dressing  by  pounding 
the  edges  of  a  stone  is  called  mutrakeh  and  is  quite  unique  in 
shape.  Its  two  faces  are  set  obliquely  on  the  central  part 
of  the  head  and  a  short  handle  supplied.  By  this  adjust- 
ment of  the  faces  a  downward  stroke  is  more  easily  effected. 

152 


THE       PEASANTRY       OF       PALESTINE 

It  is  of  steel  and  about  three  pounds  in  weight.  The 
shdhuteh  is  a  heavy  double  steel  hammer  toothed  at  both 
ends.  One  edge  may  have  more,  and  the  other  edge  less, 
than  twenty  teeth.  Two  grades  of  face  dressing  may  be 
given  to  a  block  of  stone  with  this  one  tool.  The  matabbeh 
is  a  very  heavy  hammer  made  of  a  rectangular  bar  of  steel 
with  ends  about  two  inches  or  less  square.  These  ends  or 
faces  are  supplied  with  numerous  points,  making  anywhere 
from  eighty-one  to  one  hundred  and  forty  needlelike  teeth, 
according  to  the  grade  of  work  required.  The  shokeh  is  a 
pointed  round  steel  chisel  and  comes  in  various  sizes.  The 
izmil  is  a  flat,  bladelike  steel  chisel  of  differing  sizes  used 
in  dressing  the  sides  of  stone  where,  in  building,  a  close  joint 
is  desired.  Stone  is  gotten  out  of  the  quarries  with  wedges, 
heavy  hammers  and  the  r£s.  The  shakuf  is  then  brought 
into  play.  Mizzy  stone  may  be  dressed  with  the  shokeh 
(chisel),  then  with  the  shahuteh  and  lastly  with  the  matab- 
beh. Kukuly  may  be  pounded  with  the  r&s  and  then 
dressed  with  the  sh6keh  and  sh&huteh,  or,  when  quite  soft, 
the  shokeh's  work  may  be  done  by  the  preliminary  dressing 
with  the  rds.  The  trade  of  stone  dressing  is  known  as 
dakdkeh  and  the  workmen  as  dakkik,  both  terms  being  con- 
nected with  the  verbal  root  dakk.  The  builder  or  mason  is 
known  as  the  bannd.  The  more  pretentious  title  muhandis 
or  muhandis  bannd  is  given  to  those  competent  to  undertake 
and  judge  of  immense  works.  Such  are  often  foreigners, 
resident  in  cities,  who  are  called  out  on  jobs  demanding 
expert  opinion  and  advice.  The  muhandis  is  highly  re- 
spected as  a  master  of  the  whole  art  of  construction. 

Foot  travel  is  the  rule  among  the  peasants.  Those  whose 
business  takes  them  away  from  the  home  village  walk  the 
entire  day  with  about  the  same  endurance  that  they  work 
in  the  fields  at  home.1  The  few  who  own  donkeys  or  mules 
walk  behind  their  loaded  animals,  carrying  produce  between 

lCf.  2  Sam.  2:29. 
153 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

the  villages.  Hence  it  comes  about  that  donkey  paths  make 
up  by  far  the  great  majority  of  the  paths  and  that  the  trans- 
port of  bulky  and  heavy  articles  is  difficult  in  the  interior. 
The  government  roads  increase  slowly,  but  are  very  great 
conveniences  when  constructed.  The  road  at  present  under 
construction  from  Jerusalem  to  Nablus  (Shechem)  is  being 
made  in  sections  by  contract.  The  contractor  hires  the 
natives  to  bring  the  materials,  broken  rock,  lime  dust  and 
pulverized  stone,  and  an  excellent  carriage  road  results. 
The  natives  along  the  way  then  begin  an  irregular  carriage 
service  which  creates  a  business.  Seats  for  citizens  range 
about  twenty  cents  apiece  for  a  ten-mile  journey,  though  the 
price  depends  somewhat  on  the  number  of  passengers  clamor- 
ing for,  or  indifferent  to,  accommodations,  and  the  apparent 
ability  of  the  applicant.  As  in  many  other  kinds  of  bar- 
gaining, the  engaging  of  a  carriage  seat  is  made  more  sure  by 
receiving  a  pledge  from  the  owner  that  he  will  keep  his  word 
with  you.  This  'arrabdn  is  frequently  demanded  by  the 
party  to  a  business  arrangement  who  has  the  greater  interest 
in  its  fulfilment  and  would  suffer  the  greater  inconvenience 
in  the  event  of  default.  In  the  case  in  question  perhaps  half 
a  fare  will  be  demanded  from  the  carriage  driver  as  a  pledge 
that  he  will  perform  the  required  service,  and  if  he  wants 
business  badly  enough  he  will  entrust  the  sum  to  the  keeping 
of  his  prospective  passenger.  Now  and  then,  when  a  family 
is  carrying  a  quantity  of  bedding  and  other  household  goods, 
copper  vessels,  baskets,  boxes,  their  chickens  and  children, 
the  carriage  may  seem  a  little  crowded,  but  usually  for 
men  travelers  the  accommodations  are  fairly  comfortable. 
Frequently  some  of  the  peasant  passengers  will  become 
nauseated  by  the  motion  of  the  carriage  and  hang  their 
white  faces  out  the  carriage  door.  The  carriage  will  con- 
tinue to  be  a  luxury  for  some  time  in  the  country  districts. 
Sick  people  and  children  are  greatly  convenienced  by  a 
carriage  service,  since  in  rainy  weather  it  saves  unnecessary 

154 


A   MARKET   SCENE:    PEASANTRY    NEAR    DAVID  S   TOWER,    JERUSALEM 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

exposure.  Now  and  then  a  lone  pedestrian  will  succumb 
to  the  raw  chill  of  the  rainy  days  and  die  on  the  road.  Dur- 
ing heavy  rains  the  Russian  pilgrims,  if  caught  out  in  the 
dismal  weather,  suffer  and  lose  some  of  their  number  by 
death. 

Camel  trains  are  used  in  transporting  grain.  Camels  can 
be  used  only  in  dry  weather,  as  their  large,  spongy  feet  slip 
on  the  muddy  ways  and  they  are  apt  to  fall  spread-eagle 
fashion  and  be  hurt  fatally. 

In  the  village  of  Ram  Allah  the  customary  width  of  a  road 
is  but  three  meters. 

A  case  has  been  known  where  a  man,  who  owned  land  on 
both  sides  of  the  road,  desired  to  consolidate  his  properties, 
and  accomplished  it  by  building  in  the  road  and  deflecting 
traffic  to  such  an  extent  that  it  left  him  on  one  side  of  its 
course. 

The  trades  that  need  a  large  patronage  for  support  are 
usually  carried  on  in  the  cities,  though  the  craftsmen  go  on 
tours  through  the  villages,  doing  such  work  in  their  line  as 
has  accumulated  since  their  last  visit.  So  carpenters, 
glaziers,  tinsmiths,  cleaners  and  whiteners  of  the  copper 
cooking  vessels  (tungerer),  sellers  of  ready-made  garments, 
etc.,  itinerate  among  the  villages.  The  gipsies  are  the 
country  blacksmiths.  In  the  cities  native  blacksmiths  are 
found.  In  shoeing  a  horse  the  custom  is  to  place  the  foot 
to  be  shod  on  a  small  block  and  have  an  attendant  hold  up 
the  other  foot  of  the  same  side  to  prevent  kicking. 

Ready  money  is  scarce  enough  to  be  a  very  strong  in- 
fluence in  favor  of  any  occupation  that  can  offer  it.  Many 
men  and  women  from  the  villages  about  Jerusalem  go  into 
the  city  to  sell  their  produce  or  their  labor.  Sitting  about 
the  streets  near  David's  Tower  may  be  seen  the  Silwan 
women  with  vegetables,  milk  and  eggs.  Some  men  who  own 
donkeys  or  mules  act  as  messengers  between  their  villages 
and  the  city,  carrying  produce  into  the  markets  and  returning 

155 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

with  purchases  for  the  village.  Some  Rdm  Allah  men  go 
into  the  city  as  mechanics,  but  more  go  for  domestic  service 
in  the  houses  and  convents.  When  women  servants  are 
needed  they  are  usually  secured  from  Bethlehem,  which  is 
only  five  miles  from  the  city. 

The  peasants  use  the  word  antiky  (plural,  anttkdt)  for  any 
antique  object,  such  as  a  bit  of  carving,  an  inscription,  an 
old  coin  or  a  piece  of  glass  or  pottery.  Indeed,  some  friends  of 
ours  met  an  extension  of  the  use  of  the  term  in  Egypt.  A 
girl,  very  eager  to  sell  them  some  oranges,  after  following  the 
carriage  a  long  way  and  being  continually  refused,  hit  on 
what  she  thought  would  be  a  successful  method.  Thrusting 
the  fresh  fruit  close  to  the  Americans  she  cried,  "Antiky, 
antiky."  Seldom  can  the  peasants  really  comprehend  the 
strange  delight  that  foreigners  take  in  ancient  objects,  unless 
perchance  the  material  be  precious  metal  or  stone,  but  they 
have  learned  that  antiquities  command  a  price.  So  with  a 
money  stimulus  the  mischief  is  augmented.  Certain  of  the 
country  people  go  hunting  for  old  objects,  rifling  ancient 
tombs  and  scattering  the  contents  far  and  wide  in  order  to 
gratify  the  hideous  taste  of  curio  purchasers.  Fearing  lest 
they  may  be  traced  in  their  philistinism  the  peasants  give 
wrong  information  as  to  the  places  from  which  the  articles 
came  so  that  their  "  finds  "  lose  much  of  their  value  as 
historic  data.  Could  the  place  and  conditions  of  their  age- 
long burial  be  known  they  might  give  archeological  infor- 
mation more  precious  than  the  intrinsic  value  of  the  objects 
themselves.  Sometimes  a  "  find  "  is  more  or  less  injured 
because  it  is  supposed  to  be  valueless. 

The  provisions  of  the  Turkish  law  regarding  antiquities  are 
very  strict  and  operate  to  make  scientific  research  difficult 
when  not  impossible.  But  the  administration  of  these  laws 
is  not  skilful  enough  to  prevent  an  immense  amount  of  sly 
pilfering  from  old  tombs  and  suspected  localities.  Ancient 
tombs  are  completely  covered  from  observation  by  soil. 

156 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

After  heavy  rains  these  sealed  tombs  are  often  betrayed  by 
a  slight  sinking  of  the  earth  about  them,  and  thus  possibly 
a  whole  series  of  tombs  will  be  discovered  and  their  contents 
disposed  of  in  the  distant  city.1  These  opened  tombs  may 
be  seen  all  through  the  country,  staring  from  the  hillsides  and 
among  the  terraces  like  ghastly  eye-sockets.  In  the  house 
which  we  hired  for  a  boys'  school  the  builders  had  placed 
in  one  room  as  a  floor  stone  an  antiky  of  which  they  were 
proud.  It  was  an  ornamented  and  inscribed  slab  which  they 
claimed  to  have  found  at  Dayr  Diwan.2  The  inscription 
in  Greek  read 

*fr  VHEP  ANAIIAVCEQC  CHAAM&NOC  IIPECBS  ^ 
For  the  repose  of  Selamon  (Solomon)  Presbyter. 


1  Cf.  Matt.  13 :  44. 

2  Described  in  P.  E.  F.  Quarterly,  October,  1904,  page  382. 

157 


THE       PEASANTRY       OF       PALESTINE 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE   SOCIAL   LIFE   OF   THE   VILLAGE 

KINSHIP,  religious  association,  party  traditions  and  prox- 
imity, these  four  influences  are  important  in  the  order 
named  in  helping  to  form  society.  Among  the  people  whom 
we  are  considering  the  fact  of  kinship  is  the  first  determining 
cause  of  social  relations.  In  fact  it  is  so  important  that  the 
farther  we  get  away  from  a  city  the  more  does  it  tend  to 
become  the  sole  basis  of  friendly  association.  In  the  villages 
kinship  overshadows  all  other  considerations.  In  the  desert 
there  is  practically  no  other  bond  in  which  is  the  possibility 
of  society.  The  law  of  hospitality  is  really  an  invention  of 
necessity,  the  guest  becoming  by  a  fiction  a  temporary 
kinsman.1 

As  men  come  to  live  more  closely  together  they  are  com- 
pelled to  heed  other  considerations  than  blood  relationship, 
and  so  in  the  village,  while  kinship  dominates  everything,  yet 
there  must  be  some  regard  to  other  claims.  One  might  live 
in  a  village  a  long  time  without  realizing  the  fact,  but  a  little 
inquiry  would  elicit  it,  that  any  happy  social  group  of  people 
is  almost  certain  to  be  a  group  of  kindred.  The  village  will 
have  as  many  distinct  sections,  or,  as  we  should  say,  wards, 
as  there  are  tribes.  One  does  not  discover  much  that  is  com- 
parable to  society  existing  between  members  of  different 
divisions  of  the  village. 

Religious  association  counts  for  something,  however,  in 
making  society  for  the  villager,  though  this  is  less  the  case 
than  in  the  cities.  The  celebration  of  feasts,  pilgrimages  and 
ecstasies  gives  the  Moslem  not  only  society  but  a  deal  of  en- 
tertainment. The  Christian  population  finds  an  important 

1  Cf.  I  Kings  20:  32,  etc. 
158 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

social  center  in  the  church,  and  in  the  festivals  and  cele- 
brations of  the  church  much  of  its  pleasantest  entertainment. 

Party  traditions,  such  as  those  which  have  divided  the 
villages  of  Palestine  into  Yemen  and  Kays,  have  besides 
their  divisive  effect  a  social  significance  in  an  interest  which 
is  engendered  between  the  villagers  the  country  over  belong- 
ing to  the  same  party.  As  the  old  enmities  die  out  this 
broader  social  spirit  may  persist  and  even  offer  a  basis  for 
wider  interests. 

Proximity  might  seem  at  first  thought  to  offer  only  added 
occasion  for  hostility  between  those  whose  family  or  re- 
ligious differences  keep  them  apart,  and  so,  no  doubt,  it 
often  does  have  this  effect.  But  it  was  noticeable  that, 
when  a  squabble  arose  between  Christians  living  in  el-Bireh 
and  others  in  Ram  Allah,  the  Bireh  Moslems  threw  them- 
selves into  the  question  in  favor  of  the  Bfreh  Christians,  and 
the  united  Bireh  populace  came  over  in  a  rage  to  take 
vengeance  on  the  Ram  Allah  people.  It  was  not  that  Bireh 
Moslems  welcomed  an  opportunity  to  fight  Christians  even 
to  the  extent  of  assisting  other  Christians,  but  it  was  a  pure 
case  of  neighborliness  with  the  nearer  neighbor.  Ordinarily 
Ram  Allah  and  el-Bireh  are  neighborly  enough,  both  being 
of  the  Kays  faction.  ^ 

The  diversions  of  the  Syrian  peasant  are  extremely  simple. 
Doubtless  conversation  is  the  chief  social  delight.  Pictures, 
books  and  formal  entertainment  are  out  of  the  question.  It 
takes  most  of  the  time  to  earn  the  sustenance  of  the 
family.  The  idea  of  spending  money  for  pure  amusement 
is  scarcely  to  be  dreamed  of  by  a  sane  person.  Young  men 
often  take  pleasure  in  the  possession  of  a  silk  head  scarf  or 
a  black,  thin  overgarment,  articles  of  dress  which  are  not 
strictly  necessary,  and  yet  sufficiently  useful  luxuries.  The 
children  play  merrily  if  they  are  healthy.  The  old  men  sit 
about  and  talk  in  the  shops  and  market.  Visiting  in  each 
other's  houses  is  almost  unknown  unless  the  persons  be  near 

159 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

of  kin.  The  men  see  each  other  in  the  market.  The  women 
see  each  other  at  the  springs  and  at  the  ovens.  News  goes 
about  with  extraordinary  rapidity  from  lip  to  lip.  The  en- 
tertainment of  visitors  and  guests  is  a  matter  of  honor. 
Conversation  is  lively  and  the  little  points  of  etiquette  much 
regarded.  Among  the  well-to-do  the  visitor  is  served  with 
preserves,  fruit,  lemonade  and,  lastly,  coffee.  Before  the 
serving  of  the  coffee  the  visitors  are  hardly  at  liberty  to  with- 
draw. If  an  early  departure  be  imperative  the  coffee  will  be 
hurried  and  served  early.  It  is  said  that  among  the  Bedawin 
a  full  cup  of  coffee  is  a  sign  of  enmity.  So  the  cups  are  not 
quite  filled  to  the  brim.  The  coffee-cup  (fin  j  an)  is  a  tiny 
affair,  usually  without  handle  or  saucer.  Sugar  is  not  com- 
monly added,  milk  never.  When  sugar  is  used  it  is  ordinarily 
cooked  with  the  coffee. 

It  is  customary  to  make  calls  of  courtesy  upon  the  occasion 
of  any  gala  day  or  feast  day  of  special  significance.  For 
instance,  the  leading  men  in  a  village  may  call  on  the  govern- 
ment representative,  say  the  mudir,  on  the  occasion  of  the 
Sultan's  birthday.  Or  Moslems  may  call  upon  the  church 
officials  in  honor  of  the  great  church  days.  The  natives 
honor  foreigners  by  calls  if  they  learn  that  some  day  of  great 
significance  to  the  foreigner's  home  country  is  at  hand.  It 
is  customary  to  call  upon  a  neighbor  who  has  returned  from 
a  journey  immediately  and  felicitate  him  and  hear  of  his 
experiences.  Upon  entering  a  house  for  a  call,  if  it  be 
among  their  own  neighbors,  little  formality  is  indulged. 
The  burden  of  that  is  on  the  host,  who  should  greet  the 
comers  with  "  Fut  "  (enter),  or  "Foddel  "(welcome).  Among 
the  more  pretentious  visitors  the  preliminaries  of  calls  are 
smoothed  through  the  medium  of  servants.  The  passing 
over  the  threshold  may  be  made  the  occasion  of  the  ex- 
pression of  much  hospitality  and  courtesy.  The  seat  of 
honor  is  the  one  farthest  from  the  door,  but  modesty  dictates 
that  one  should  sit  down  in  the  humblest  place,  that  nearest 

160 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

the  door,  until  expostulation  and  entreaty  prevail  on  one  to 
take  the  place  of  honor.  The  first  questions  are  concerning 
the  health  of  the  host  and  his  family.  In  a  Moslem's  house 
it  is  not  customary  to  ask  concerning  the  man's  wife.  The 
conversation  may  be  made  sprightly  by  the  keenness  of  the 
interest  shown  in  these  objects  of  inquiry,  or  it  may  be 
disagreeably  dull  on  account  of  the  perfunctory  manner  in 
which  they  are  mentioned.  A  matter  of  business,  if  there 
be  such,  is  kept  back  until  other  subjects  of  conversation 
fail.  The  introduction  and  carrying  on  of  a  conversation 
may  be  a  very  graceful  and  interesting  thing,  but  if  either 
party  be  boorish,1  and  the  purpose  be  to  demand  some 
advantage,  as  when  official  business  brings  together  those 
of  different  religious  beliefs,  the  meeting  can  be  a  very 
strained  and  uncomfortable  affair.  Such  an  occasion  would 
be  the  meeting  of  a  proud  city  Moslem  with  a  Christian 
peasant,  or  even  with  a  Moslem  peasant.  But  between  vil- 
lage peasants  themselves,  though  of  different  faiths,  there 
is  more  real  courtesy  than  elsewhere.  Not  many  of  the 
people  like  trouble  and  hard  feeling.  Most  of  them  like  the 
atmosphere  of  good-will  and  at  least  the  externals  of  good 
fellowship  and  generous  treatment. 

Invitations  to  a  hospitable  meal  or  feast  are  often  sent  out 
shortly  before  the  actual  hour,  if  not  just  at  the  very  time.2 
It  is  commonly  the  case  that  a  courteous  host  seeks  to  dis- 
suade the  guest  from  bringing  the  call  or  visit  to  a  close.8 
The  departing  guest  usually  says  something  like  "A  khdtrak," 
"  By  your  leave,"  to  which  the  host  answers,  "  Ma  Saldmeh," 
"  [Go]  with  peace." 4  The  first  speaker  responds  to  this  with 
"'Ala  selmak,"  or  « Selimt." 

5  Greetings  in  the  market-place  and  on  the  road  are  formal 
but  graceful.  The  common  greeting  of  "  Saldm  'alaykum,"  6 
"  Peace  be  on  you,"  is  replied  to  by  "  'Alaykum  es-salam," 

1  Prov.  18:  23.  3  Matt.  22:  3,  4.  s  Judges  19:  5-8.  4  Cf.  1  Sam. 
25:  35.  6  Matt.  23:  7.  8  Gen.  43: 23;  Luke  24:  36. 

161 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

"  May  the  peace  be  on  you."  In  strictness  this  is  the  salu- 
tation of  Moslems,  though  it  is  commonly  used  indiscrimi- 
nately. Now  and  then  one  may  hear  of  a  bigoted  Moslem 
who  would  not  return  this  salutation  to  a  Christian,  but 
would  mumble  out  "  Peace  be  on  the  faithful  ones/'  in  which 
class  he  would  include,  of  course,  none  but  his  coreligionists.1 
More  characteristic  are  the  rustic  salutations,  "  Marhaba," 
"  Welcome";  "  Miyet  marhabaY'  "A  hundred  welcomes"; 
"  Kayf  halak,"  "  How  are  you?  ";  "  Humdillah,"  "  Praise 
God  ";  "Allah  yofathak,"  "  May  God  preserve  you  "; "  Hum- 
dillah salameh,"  "  Praise  God,  you  are  well,"  or,  "  I  see  you 
well";  "Salamtak,"  "Your  peace."  The  peasant's  early 
good  morning  salutation  is  "  Sub&hkum  b'1-khayr,"  to  which 
the  response  is,  "  Ya  sub&h  el-khayr."  When  the  day  is 
well  on  the  pleasant  greeting  is,  "  Naharak  sa'id,"  "  May 
your  day  be  happy,"  to  which  the  gracious  reply  is,  "  Na- 
h&rak  umb&rak,"  "  May  your  day  be  blessed."  The  evening 
salutation  is,  "  Mesaikum  b'1-khayr,"  answered  by,  "  Y& 
mesa  el-khayr."  At  night  it  is,  "  Layltak  sa'ideh." 

An  evasive  answer  to  one  asking  a  question  as  to  another's 
destination  in  traveling  is  to  reply, "  A  (la)  bab  Allah,"  "  To  the 
gate  of  God." 

In  addressing  foreigners  the  peasants  use  the  term  khaw- 
djah  for  a  man  and  sitt  for  a  woman.  In  speaking  to  a 
superior  of  their  own  race  they  employ  the  term  sayyid, 
lord,  or  sir,  or  effendy.  Among  themselves  they  use  the  word 
shaykh  for  an  elderly,  a  learned  or  a  holy  man.  To  their 
equals  in  age  and  station  the  peasant's  titles  of  address  are 
numerous.  "  Yd  shaykh  "  to  such  is  used  in  expostulation 
or  derision.  "'Ammy,"  "My  uncle";  "  Habiby,"  "My 
dear";  "  Mueallim,"  "  Master  "  or  "  Teacher,"  or  the  first 
name  of  the  one  addressed  are  used  in  conversation.  If  the 
talkers  are  uncertain  of  each  other's  name  they  may  say, 
"  Hayu,  shu  ismak?  "  "  Eh,  there,  what's  your  name?  " 

JMatt.  5:47. 
162 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

though  this  is  rather  contemptuous.  In  rough  conversation 
the  speakers  may  grace  each  other  with  such  address  as 
"  Ya  barid,"  literally,  "  Thou  cold  one,"  meaning  foolish  one; 
"  Shu  ente,"  "  Who  are  you  anyway?  ";  "  Majnun,  ente?  ", 
"Are  you  mad?  ";  "Ana  hamar?  ",  "Am  I  a  donkey?  "  i.  e.} 
"  Do  you  take  me  for  a  donkey? "  or,  sarcastically, 
"  Shatrak,"  "  You  are  clever."  To  boys,  "  Ya  suby,"  or 
"  Ya  weled,"  and  to  girls  or  any  unmarried  woman,  "  Ya 
bint,"  are  the  simple  forms  of  address.  "  'Amty,"  "  My 
aunt,"  is  often  used  to  middle-aged  or  elderly  matrons. 
A  father  will  often  call  his  child  by  the  relation  which  he 
himself  sustains  to  the  child,  "  Ya  aba,"  literally,  "  0 
father!  "  A  maternal  aunt  has  been  heard  to  call  her 
niece  or  her  nephew  by  the  relationship  which  she  holds  to 
either,  viz.,  "  Ya  khalty,"  meaning  literally,  "  My 
maternal  aunt." 

A  very  graceful  salute  is  executed  with  the  right  hand 
touching  lightly  first  one's  breast,  then  the  lips  and  then  the 
forehead.  The  one  saluted  answers  by  the  same  set  of 
gestures.  In  Damascus  I  once  saw  a  group  of  citizens  who 
had  gathered  in  a  tiny  room  for  conversation  executing 
simultaneously  a  similar  salute,  except  that  they  first  swept 
the  right  hand  downward  towards  the  ground  in  lieu  of  the 
touch  on  the  breast.  This  variation  is  more  elegant  or  more 
humble  than  the  former  way,  according  to  circumstances.1 
I  once  saw  a  villager  presenting  a  paper  to  be  read  to  one 
of  the  official  class.  The  peasant  made  a  sweeping  motion 
toward  the  ground  with  the  hand  holding  the  document. 

In  meeting,  the  native  seizes  the  hand  of  his  superior 
and  endeavors  to  bring  the  back  of  the  hand  to  his  lips 
and  forehead.  The  other,  however,  generally  succeeds  in 
withdrawing  his  hand  before  more  than  a  touch  of  hands 
has  been  accomplished.  On  meeting,  especially  after  a 
separation,  the  custom  has  obtained  among  women  friends 
lCf.  Ruth  2: 10. 

163 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

of  kissing  each  other  first  on  the  right  cheek  and  then  on 
the  left.  Men  salute  each  other  in  the  same  way  in  some 
localities.  Strangers  enter  into  amiable  conversation  with 
each  other  without  the  necessity  of  introductions. 

The  guest-house  of  the  tribe  makes  a  place  of  rendezvous 
for  men,  where  congenial  companions  may  be  met  in  a 
social  way.  Song  and  story  are  much  enjoyed  by  the  men. 
Those  who  have  a  knack  for  story-telling,  or  who  can  sing 
to  their  own  accompaniment  on  the  rabdb,  a  kind  of  fiddle, 
or  on  the  *ud,  a  kind  of  lute,  are  assured  an  appreciative 
audience.  The  social  and  kindly  amenities  may  be  seen  here 
at  the  guest-house  after  a  funeral.  The  nearest  of  kin  to  the 
deceased  among  the  men  is  constrained  by  his  men  friends 
to  accompany  them  to  the  guest-house  where,  by  preparing 
food  and  supplying  a  stream  of  conversation,  they  try  to 
divert  his  mind  from  his  grief.  They  may  seek  to  entertain 
him  thus  for  several  days.  I  accompanied  one  such  group 
of  mourners  and  sympathizers  to  the  guest-house  where  we 
sat  cross-legged  upon  the  floor.  A  man  and  his  wife  who 
lived  in  the  same  house  and  kept  the  guest-room  in  order 
prepared  coffee.  Green  coffee  berries  were  roasted  in  a  long- 
handled  iron  ladle  over  the  coals  in  a  clay  brazier.  The 
roasted  berries  were  put  into  a  wooden  mortar  and  pounded 
with  a  long  wooden  pestle.  When  they  were  quite  fine  the 
odor  was  very  pleasant.  The  coffee  was  then  put  into  a 
tin  pot  having  a  long  handle  and  allowed  to  cook  over  the 
brazier  until  it  swelled  up  in  the  pot  several  times,  when  it 
was  served  in  handleless  cups,  of  which  there  were  but  two 
in  the  company.  They  handed  me  the  first  cup,  but  I 
passed  it  on,  refusing  to  drink  before  the  old  men  had  par- 
taken. The  cup  that  I  used  was  washed  after  my  prede- 
cessor had  drunk  from  it,  but  I  noticed  that  for  the  others 
the  cups  were  refilled  without  washing.  It  was  most  de- 
licious coffee.  Some  of  the  men  had  previously  refreshed 
themselves  with  cigarettes.  The  talk  had  been  general  and 

164 


WOMEN    AT   THE    SPRING 


FOUNTAIN   AT    NAZAKKTH 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

lively  and  an  air  of  comfort  and  good-will  had  filled  the  place. 
I  admired  those  good-hearted  men  and  their  simple  and 
sensible  way,  as  with  the  fumes  of  coffee  and  the  interest  of 
their  talk  they  beguiled  their  friend  and  themselves  for 
several  hours.  The  female  friends  of  a  woman  in  grief 
assemble  at  the  house  where  she  lives  with  the  object  of 
comforting  her.  So  with  all  the  great  events  of  life,  birth, 
marriage,  death,  a  feast,  a  return  from  a  journey,  the  friends, 
who  are  usually  related,  distantly  at  any  rate,  gather  to- 
gether for  the  pleasure  of  conversation  and  discussion,  to 
drink  coffee  and,  as  they  say  in  the  native  idiom,  to  "  drink 
tobacco,"  for  they  always  describe  smoking  as  drinking. 

Often  in  a  conversation  where  there  seems  to  be  a  likeli- 
hood of  ill  feeling,  as,  for  instance,  in  business  matters,  the 
one  who  is  leading  the  conversation  will  pronounce  the  open- 
ing salutations  and  addresses  all  over  again.  So  in  the  middle 
of  a  conversation  that  does  not  appear  to  be  "  getting  any- 
where," he  may  break  in  suddenly  with  "  Good  morning,  sir; 
how  are  you?"  This  repeated  several  times  during  a  long 
talk  has  the  effect  of  a  fresh  start  with  the  erasure  of  what 
has  passed.  Sometimes  a  man  who  is  being  pressed,  as  he 
thinks,  unduly,  will  break  out  into  vituperation,  pass  his 
hand  over  his  brow  in  sign  of  weariness  and  the  unreason  of 
his  opponents,  even  weep  a  little  with  vexation.  Mean- 
while all  the  other  talkers  about  him  observe  him  soberly  and 
silence  may  rest  on  them  for  some  minutes  before  the  subject 
is  resumed.  All  these  things  make  little  difference  with  the 
results  of  the  business  in  hand,  however.  He  who  has  the 
advantage  holds  it  unmoved,  though  he  may  be  as  diplo- 
matic as  possible  in  forcing  the  conclusion.  Any  exhibition 
of  passion  or  impatience  usually  betrays  the  weaker  side  in 
the  discussion.  Such  conversations  may  be  continued  at 
odd  times  through  days. 

When  there  are  visitors  at  the  guest-house  who  are  to  be 
fed,  the  people  take  one  of  the  huge  dishes  known  as  the 

165 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

minsaf,  fill  it  with  food,  generally  rice  and  mutton,  and 
several  help  to  carry  it  to  the  guest-chamber,  supporting  it 
in  a  large  piece  of  sacking,  which  they  hold  by  the  four 
corners. 

One  of  the  gala  times  to  which  the  neighbors  look  forward 
is  what  might  be  called  a  roofing-bee.  When  a  house  which 
is  in  the  course  of  building  has  been  finished  except  the 
roof,  the  master  mason  in  charge  becomes  practically  the 
head  of  an  open-air  festival,  for  besides  his  usual  helpers 
the  whole  neighborhood  turns  out  to  assist.  The  women 
bring  stone  and  mortar,  the  men  stand  in  line  to  pass  it, 
and  amid  shouting,  singing  and  the  firing  of  guns  the  work 
goes  on  merrily  to  completion,  when  the  mason  is  supposed 
to  receive  as  a  present  a  new  robe  and  the  merrymakers  are 
feasted  on  rice. 

Among  the  rich,  women  as  well  as  men  smoke  the  ndrjileh, 
which  is  supplied  with  tumbdk,  a  Persian  variety  of  tobacco. 

A  great  deal  of  entertainment  must  be  afforded  the  natives 
who  come  in  contact  with  foreigners,  as  these  latter  attempt, 
and  mangle,  the  language.  But  with  imperturbable  and  polite 
deference  the  native  listeners  betray  no  sense  of  our  blunders, 
even  declaring  our  gift  in  acquiring  the  tongue  remarkable. 
The  eager  learner  is  fortunate  indeed  if  the  natives  do  not 
answer  back  in  the  same  broken  Arabic  which  he  is  perpe- 
trating. Such  an  excess  of  accommodation  hinders  advance 
in  the  difficult  idiom.  A  missionary  friend  told  me  of  the 
amusing  experiences  of  herself  and  another  worker  in  their 
early  attempts  to  force  their  ability  at  talking  in  Arabic. 
They  were  almost  totally  ignorant  of  the  language,  but 
they  went  to  a  garden  where  there  was  a  group  of  women 
and  boldly  essayed  to  tell  the  story  of  the  rich  man  and 
Lazarus.  One  of  them  knowing  a  word  for  man,  zelameh, 
said  it,  and  was  followed  by  the  other,  who  said  the  word 
foi  poor,  fakir,  and  pointed  upwards.  The  first  then  said 
zelameh  again,  when  the  second,  who  also  knew  the  word  for 

160 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

rich,  ghany,  said  that  and  pointed  downwards.  That  was 
the  extent  of  their  exposition.  Some  one,  hearing  of  it,  asked 
our  friend  if  she  thought  any  impression  was  made  upon  her 
hearers.  She  laughingly  replied  that  she  didn't  know,  but 
that  some  one  had  stolen  her  pocket-handkerchief  during  the 
performance. 

There  is  play  for  all  ages.  The  feasts,  the  weddings  and 
even  the  funerals  are  practically  occasions  of  play  for  the 
adults.  The  young  men  often  play  a  game  similar  to  our 
duck-on-the-rock.  The  old  men  sitting  in  the  streets  about 
the  doorways  are  often  seen  playing  a  game  called  sijeh  or 
liwan.  In  the  dust  or  on  the  flat  surface  of  a  stone  slab 
forty-nine  or  twenty-five  squares  are  marked  off,  as  on  a 
checker-board.  The  markers  or  men  are,  perhaps,  small 
stones.  The  one  suggesting  the  game  says,  "  I'll  take  the 
liwan"  (hall),  which  is  the  central  square  of  all,  and  places 
one  of  the  markers  in  a  space  next  to  the  liwan.  Then 
each  player  in  turn  places  a  marker  in  a  vacant  square 
anywhere  on  the  diagram,  the  central  liwan  excepted,  until 
all  but  that  one  are  filled.  The  first  player  then,  he  who 
claimed  the  liwan,  moves  his  nearest  marker  into  it.  The 
player  next  in  turn  jumps  the  marker  which  the  first 
player  moved.  The  third  player  moves  into  the  liwan  and 
is  jumped  by  the  following  player.  Jumping  must  always 
be  towards  the  liwan  and  is  allowable  whenever  there  is  a 
marker  in  the  liwan,  one  or  more  empty  spaces  between  the 
jumper  and  the  liwan  and  an  empty  space  beyond  the 
liwan  into  which  to  jump.  The  game  continues  until  there 
is  but  one  marker  left  on  the  board,  and  that  in  the  liwan. 

The  more  vigorous  game  called  dosh  is  played  with  pitching 
stones.  The  two  players  try  for  the  first  turn  by  seeing 
which  one  can  come  nearest,  with  a  throw  of  his  stone,  to 
some  mark.  Keeping  the  positions  in  which  they  land  in 
this  trial-toss,  the  first  player  (the  one  nearest  the  mark) 
throws  his  stone  at  the  stone  of  the  other,  trying  to  drive 

167 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

it  as  many  feet  as  possible.  He  continues  until  he  fails  to 
drive  his  opponent's  stone,  measuring  with  his  feet  the 
ground  over  which  he  has  driven  it  and  adding  up  the  score. 
The  other  then  tries  to  drive  his  opponent's  stone  in  the 
same  fashion.  The  one  first  driving  his  opponent's  stone  a 
total  distance  of  forty  feet  is  the  winner  and  is  entitled  to 
be  given  a  ride  on  the  back  of  the  defeated  player. 

The  village  men  greatly  enjoy  motion  songs,  with  dancing, 
swaying,  clapping  of  hands,  etc.  Many  of  these  exercises 
are  combined  in  the  mtfab l  at  wedding  celebrations.  When 
clapping  of  hands  is  the  prominent  motion,  the  song  may  go 
by  the  designation  sahjeh.2  When  a  sort  of  dance,  which  con- 
sists chiefly  in  stamping  the  foot  forward,  characterizes  the 
motion,  the  accompanying  song  is  designated  as  dabkeh* 
In  this  latter  the  dancer  or  dancers,  for  there  may  be  one  or 
several  in  line,  hold  handkerchiefs  fluttering  in  the  hands  and 
stamp  forward  first  with  one  foot  and  then  with  the  other 
in  groups  of  three  stamps  or  steps  with  each  foot,  chang- 
ing gracefully  from  one  foot  to  the  other. 

There  are  strolling  gipsies  who  go  about  entertaining  by 
dancing  and  thrumming  on  instruments.  Sometimes  a  man 
with  a  baboon  or  a  bear  comes  to  a  village. 

The  native  enjoys  hunting.  Gazels,  partridges  and  wild 
pigeons  are  the  chief  game,  but  he  does  not  despise  smaller 
birds.4  He  seldom  has  anything  like  modern  arms,  and 
therefore  unless  hunting  is  his  business  often  misses  the 
object  of  his  aim.  Still  he  enjoys  the  noise  of  his  gun. 

Quarrels  are  of  too  painful  frequency  among  villagers. 
They  are  always  costly  affairs,  for  the  officials  mulct  both 
sides,  unless  the  trouble  has  been  hushed  up  before  soldiers 
are  sent  to  investigate.  There  has  been  considerable  im- 
provement lately  in  the  general  order  and  security  of  the 
country.  Even  within  ten  or  fifteen  years,  it  is  said, 

1  See  page  56.  2  See  page  184.  3  See  page  186.  4Gen.  27:  5; 
1  Sam.  26:20;  Prov.  12:27. 

168 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

the  roads  have  become  more  safe,  outrages  much  less  com- 
mon and  villagers  more  peaceable.  Formerly  the  peasants 
went  heavily  armed  and  altercations  were  likely  to  lead  to 
bloodshed.  As  I  am  rewriting  these  notes  there  come  letters 
from  friends  in  Palestine  bringing  news  of  a  quarrel  of 
serious  proportions  in  one  of  the  large  villages.  A  score  or 
more  of  the  men  have  been  put  into  the  nearest  city  prison 
and  great  expense  and  continued  ill-will  are  inevitable.  A 
marriage  had  been  arranged  to  unite  young  people  of  two 
different  tribes.  This  unusual  event  was  not  allowed  to 
proceed  without  very  great  jealousies  and  some  disagree- 
ment as  to  minor  terms  among  the  relatives.  The  trouble 
culminated  on  the  day  of  the  wedding;  and  for  some  hours 
a  battle  raged.  From  housetops,  windows,  doors  and  in  the 
alleys  of  the  quarter  of  the  village  where  the  tribes  lived 
stones  were  hurled  and  wounds  inflicted. 

To  take  revenge  is  known  as  akhadh  iih-thdr,  or  astad  iih- 
thdr.  The  blood-revenge  is  called  ith-thdr  id-dam.  A  family 
or  tribe  feels  that  it  has  been  humiliated  when  any  of  its 
members  have  been  assailed  by  outsiders.  If  blood  has  been 
drawn  or  a  fatality  has  ensued  the  disgrace  must  be  wiped 
out.  The  accomplishment  of  this  is  expressed  as  nafy  il~dr.1 


'Gen.  9:  6;  Num.  35:  21;Deut.  19:  21;  2  Sam. 3: 27;  cf.  Matt.  5:38, 
39;  27:  25. 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE   MIND   OF   THE   VILLAGE 

THE  state  of  learning  in  Syria  and  the  Levant  seems  to  have 
been  steadily  on  the  decline  for  some  centuries.  At  the  be- 
ginning of  the  nineteenth  century  it  must  have  been  at  a  very 
low  ebb.  Once  flourishing  literary  centers  were  dead  to 
scholarly  impulses.  Famous  institutions  and  foundations 
for  learning  had  vanished.  The  French  campaign  in  the 
Levant,  the  assiduity  of  German  and  French  scholars,  but 
even  more  effectively  of  late  the  presence  of  the  Western 
missionaries,  have  all  been  stimulative  to  a  renewed  literary 
activity  in  the  Arabic  language.  One  of  the  most  noteworthy 
names  in  this  nineteenth  century  revival  is  that  of  the  poet 
Yazijy  (Shaykh  Nasif  ibn  'Abdallah  al-Ydzijy)  of  the  Leb- 
anon, who  is  much  esteemed  as  a  sort  of  modern  Hariri. 
His  "  Majma€  al  Bahrain  "  ("  Where  the  Two  Seas  Meet  ")  is 
a  great  favorite.  He  wrote  on  literature,  logic  and  grammar. 
His  works  are  used  as  text-books  in  the  Syrian  schools  and 
his  poems  are  available  to  readers.  The  presses  of  Beirut 
and  Cairo  have  put  forth  a  large  number  of  works  within  the 
last  century  by  both  old  and  new  authors.  The  services  of 
the  American  Press  in  Beirut  have  been  of  very  great  value 
and  influence  in  the  near  East.  Excellent  work  is  done  also 
by  the  Jesuit  and  other  presses  in  the  same  city.  The  press 
is  not  so  restricted  in  Egypt  as  in  Syria;  hence  the  activity 
in  journalism  in  the  former  country  as  compared  with  the 
latter.  The  periodical  press  of  Egypt  is  quite  varied. 
Though  some  of  the  journals  there  published  are  under  the 
ban  of  the  censor  in  the  Turkish  domains,  yet  subscribers  in 
Palestine  receive  them  by  the  French  post.  Beirut  is  the 

170 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

intellectual  hub  of  Asiatic  Turkey  as  it  is  also  a  chief  center  of 
trade.  American  and  English  educational  enterprises  have 
done  much  for  Turkish  subjects.  Among  the  Syrians  their 
influence  has  been  very  conspicuous.  In  Palestine  proper 
the  educational  missionary  work  is  largely  in  the  hands  of 
the  English  people  and  their  church  societies.  Wherever 
missionary  effort  has  been  put  forth  it  has  stimulated  local 
effort  and  lifted  the  educational  standard.  The  old  system 
of  village  boys'  schools  under  the  care  of  the  khatib  is  about 
as  weak  as  it  can  be  and  not  actually  vanish.  The  Greek 
Church  schools  in  the  Christian  villages  are  in  about  the  same 
condition.  In  such  places  only  a  few  leading  men  will 
ordinarily  be  found  able  to  read  and  write.  But  where 
missionary  schools  have  entered  the  native  schools  have 
multiplied  and  improved./  Robinson  mentions  a  straggling 
school  for  boys  in  Ram  Allah,  in  1838,  where  five  or  six  boys 
were  considered  educated  when  they  could  read  the  Arabic 
Psalter.  To-day  things  are  considerably  different,  for  some 
hundreds  of  the  Ram  Allah  children  are  in  school,  being 
educated  in  all  branches  of  elementary  education  and  some 
of  the  studies  of  secondary  grade.  The  most  notable  differ- 
ence, however,  between  then  and  now  is  that  there  are 
almost  as  many  girls  as  boys  in  the  schools  of  the  village 
mentioned.  Stimulated  by  the  provision  of  the  American 
Friends  for  the  education  of  girls,  the  native  Greek  Church 
also  has  opened  a  school  for  the  village  girls.  J 

We  are  reminded  here  of  a  story  of  the  American  scholar 
and  missionary,  Dr.  Van  Dyck,  who,  while  on  his  way  to  a 
village  in  the  Lebanon,  was  accosted  by  a  Moslem,  who 
asked  after  his  errand.  Dr.  Van  Dyck  replied,  "  I  am  going 

to  the  village  of  A to  introduce  three  schools."    "  Three 

schools,"  said  the  surprised  questioner;  "  why,  that  is  a  good 
many  for  so  small  a  village."  "  Well,"  said  Dr.  Van  Dyck, 
"  I  am  to  open  a  school,  but  if  I  do  that  the  Greeks  will  open 
one  and  the  Roman  Catholics  another,  so  that  I  consider  that 

171 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

I  shall  really  be  responsible  for  three  schools."  At  Schneller's 
school  for  orphan  children  in  Jerusalem  are  some  hundreds 
of  boys.  They  are  divided  into  families  of  from  twenty  to 
thirty,  with  a  monitor  or  group-father  over  each.  The  fore- 
noons are  taken  up  with  schoolroom  exercises  and  most  of 
the  afternoons  are  devoted  to  learning  trades.  Shoemaking, 
carpentry,  pottery,  printing,  wood-carving  and  dairying  are 
taught.  Blind  boys  are  taught  to  seat  chairs  and  weave 
straw  mats.  The  chief  hindrances  in  the  promotion  of 
school  enterprises  in  Palestine  are  all  reducible  to  legal 
disabilities,  which  are  the  occasion  and  encouragement  for 
many  other  petty  annoyances.  It  is  at  times  very 
difficult  to  secure  valid  titles  to  purchased  property  and 
more  difficult  to  accomplish  safely  the  erection  of  suitable 
buildings. 

Of  foreign  tongues  there  are  many  to  be  heard  in  the 
country.  Some  friends  in  Jerusalem  were  one  day  discuss- 
ing the  numerous  tongues  and  dialects  used  in  a  conversa- 
tional way  in  and  about  the  city.  They  began  to  count  them 
up  and  reached  something  over  fifty.  Not  all  of  these  are 
heard  by  the  country  people,  but  many  of  them  are  heard 
occasionally  as  pilgrims  and  other  travelers  pass.  Until 
comparatively  recently  the  leading  foreign  tongue  was 
French,  but  lately  its  influence  has  been  lessened  in  favor 
of  English  and  German. 

The  language  of  the  people  is  Arabic.  It  is  a  virile  tongue 
and  destined  to  increase  in  use  rather  than  diminish,  though 
it  may  never  again  have  the  ascendency  enjoyed  in  the  days 
of  the  caliphates.  One  is  tempted  to  say  that  the  Syrian 
finds  his  nationality  in  his  faith  and  his  politics  in  his  church 
only.  But  it  would  also  be  true  to  say  that,  to  many,  their 
clearest  bond  of  national  feeling  is  in  their  boasted  language 
and  in  the  masters  of  their  old  literature.  The  Arabic 
classics  hold  an  equal  sway  over  Christian  and  Moslem 
natives.  If  there  is  any  possible  place  or  condition  in  which 

172 


A    HOUSE-ROOFING   BEE    (ET   TAYYIBEH) 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

the  bitterness  of  the  rival  faiths  can  be  assuaged  it  is  in  the 
discussion  of  Arabic  lore.  The  language  and  its  master- 
pieces are  the  source  of  much  intellectual  and  esthetic 
delight  to  the  people.  In  these  they  must  find  all  the  grati- 
fication that  in  Western  societies  is  realized  in  the  pursuit 
of  the  liberal  sciences  and  arts. 

The  country  and  desert  folk  of  Palestine  and  Arabia  are 
justifiable  in  much  of  their  pride  in  their  really  beautiful 
language.  Some  of  the  gutturals  may  seem  unduly  harsh, 
and  when  fully  pronounced  the  word  endings  may  at  times 
seem  monotonous;  but  rightly  rolled  and  molded  there  is 
nothing  more  beautiful  and  clear  than  a  well-spoken  chain 
of  Arabic  sentences.  One  must  prefer  the  country  to  the 
city  speech.  There  are  twenty-eight  distinct  letters  in  the 
Arabic  alphabet.  The  first  two  letters  alif  and  bay  corre- 
spond to  the  aleph  and  beth  of  the  Hebrew,  also  to  the 
alpha  and  beta  of  the  Greek,  from  which  comes  our  word 
"  alphabet."  The  two  letters  lam  and  aleph  written  together 
are  sometimes  reckoned  an  extra  letter.  Many  of  the  other 
letters  are  variants  of  each  other  phonetically,  such  as  differ- 
ent kinds  of  t's,  h's,  d's,  s's  and  k's.  Dialectical  variations 
account  in  part  for  these  numerous  sounds  and  for  others 
which  were  not  given  a  distinguishing  sign  after  the  alphabet 
stiffened  into  its  classical  form.  For  instance,  there  is  a 
character  pronounced  to-day  by  some  dha,  by  others  za. 
Another  is  pronounced  koff,  but  by  others  aff,  and  by  the 
Bedawin,  goff.  In  Egypt  the  sound  for  the  fifth  letter  of 
the  alphabet  is  hard  g,  while  in  Syria  it  is  j.  The  fourth 
letter  th  tends  to  become  a  plain  t,  as  in  katir  for  kathir,  or 
in  talat  for  thaldth. 

There  is  a  historical  instance  of  such  dialectical  variance 
among  Palestine  country  people  (Judges  12:  6)  where  s  and 
sh  in  sibboleth  and  shibboleth  are  the  sounds  in  question. 
Both  of  these  are  represented  in  Arabic,  the  language  of 
modern  Palestine,  in  the  letters  sin  and  shin.  This  instance 

173 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

helps  to  suggest  how  close  are  the  tongues  of  ancient  and 
modern  Palestine,  Hebrew  and  Arabic.  Aramaic  was  the 
historical  bridge  between  the  two.1 

Many  of  the  place  names  to-day  in  use  are  probably  not 
Arabic  at  all,  though  sounding  very  much  like  it,  but  old 
Aramaic  or  Hebrew  names  adapted  to  Arabic-speaking 
mouths.  One  of  the  adaptations  thus  made  to  render  the 
ancient  tongue  palatable  to  the  modern  pronunciation  is  the 
change  of  final  I  to  n.  So  Israel  becomes  Israin.  Similarly, 
Gabriel  is  frequently  heard  in  Arabic  as  Jibran.  Instead  of 
Bethel  the  modern  Palestinian  says  Baytin,  there  being  in 
Arabic  no  softening  of  the  letters  b,  g,  d,  etc.,  after  a  vowel 
as  in  Hebrew.  The  Arabic  language  early  lent  itself  to  the 
grammarians  who,  with  great  skill,  wrought  out  its  inherent 
symmetry  and  logical  possibilities.  To  look  at  the  language 
as  they  have  developed  it  and  systematized  it  is  quite  a 
novel  experience  for  one  who  has  known  only  the  European 
family  of  tongues.  Stress  is  laid  upon  the  substantial 
quality  of  almost  every  word  except  the  mere  particles,  ex- 
clamations, etc.  But  the  tendency  is  grammatically  to  refer 
the  words  to  triliteral  verbs.  In  the  arrangement  of  verbs 
in  paradigms  the  third  person  singular  of  the  past  or,  rather, 
completed  action  or  state  of  the  verb,  is  made  prominent. 
Inflection  is  managed  by  preformatives  and  afTormatives  de- 
noting the  person,  number  or  gender;  also  by  infixes  and 
significant  vowels  to  assist  in  determining  voices  and  modes 
of  action.  The  noun  is  similarly  modified  to  denote  gender 
and  number.  Verbs  and  nouns  both  take  pronominal  suf- 
fixes. There  is  a  tendency  to  pleonasm  in  the  use  of  pro- 
nouns and  prepositions  in  connection  with  such  suffixes. 
The  dual  is  in  constant  daily  use  in  the  language. 

What  to  us  would  seem  like  very  picturesquely  figurative 
tendencies  in  common  speech  are  the  relationships  intro- 
duced by  the  use  of  such  words  as  ab,  father;  umm, 

1 2  Kings  18:  26. 
174 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

mother;  dhil,  master  or  possessor;  #w,  son;1  and  bint, 
daughter.  This  is  carried  to  such  an  extent  as  really  to 
include  nicknaming. 

Arabic  has  a  large  vocabulary  and  permits  considerable 
further  expansion.  In  remoter  regions  the  borrowed  words 
are  few,  but  among  those  who  hear  other  tongues  they  are 
numerous.  In  this  respect  the  tongue  has  had  an  experience 
not  different  from  others.  Still  it  retains  considerable  in- 
dependence, as  languages  go,  and  covers  a  wide  empire. 
Even  where  Arabic  is  not  actually  spoken,  its  influence  has 
been  considerable.  It  has  loaned  large  numbers  of  words 
and  its  script  has  covered  many  other  languages,  as,  for 
example,  Turkish,  Persian,  Hindustani,  Malay,  the  African 
dialects,  etc.  The  influence  of  the  Kuran  arid  Islam  has  been 
the  real  force  in  this  expansion  of  idiom  and  script.  Promi- 
nence in  the  written  language  is  given  to  the  consonants. 
Owing  to  its  easily  cursive  form  and  the  customary  omission 
of  vowels  it  can  be  written  with  great  rapidity.  For  these 
very  reasons  it  easily  degenerates  into  a  scrawl  scarcely 
legible,  but  perhaps  no  worse  than  English  or  any  lan- 
guage carelessly  written.  A  piece  of  writing  is  called 
bastt  when  the  vowels  are  left  out,  and  mftshakil  when 
they  are  written. 

The  vowel  signs  are  three,  a,  i,  u,  but  according  as  these 
are  preceded  by  a  heavy  or  light  consonant,  or  followed  by 
such  or  by  one  of  the  semivowels,  they  admit  of  considerable 
modification.  The  vowel  sounds  in  Arabic,  therefore,  are 
numerous.  As  the  consonants  are  prominent  in  writing,  so 
are  the  vowels  very  significant  in  speaking.  Especially  in 
speaking  long  distances  in  the  wild  country,  across  ravines 
from  hillsides,  etc.,  a  peculiar  and  effective  stress  is  placed 
on  the  vowels. 

There  are  dialectical  variations  between  the  common 
spoken  language  of  the  peasantry  and  that  of  the  city;  also 

Cf.  John  12:  36;  1  Sam.  2: 12,  A.  V. 
175 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

between  both  of  these  and  what  is  termed  church  or  high 
language,  which  is  really  a  near  approach  to  the  classical 
Arabic;  finally  between  the  language  of  women  and  children 
on  the  one  hand  and  men  on  the  other. 

One  very  peculiar  custom  is  that  in  the  use  of  the  personal 
pronouns  the  order  is  always  first,  second  and  third.  Not  as 
with  us,  you  and  I,  but  7  and  you,  or  7  and  he,  would  be 
Arabic  usage. 

More  closely  significant  in  a  study  of  the  Palestinian  peas- 
ant are  those  local  turns  of  the  language  which  we  find  in 
his  colloquialisms,  exclamations,  etc.  There  is  also  a  very 
fruitful  field  in  the  proverbs,  songs  and  stories  of  the  peas- 
antry. A  choice  collection  of  stories  as  gathered  by  a  life- 
long resident  of  the  country,  Rev.  J.  E.  Hanauer,  has  been 
edited  by  Dr.  H.  G.  Mitchell.1 

The  word  hdl  is  used  in  Ram  Allah  and  its  environs  to 
mean  very  or  very  much,  that  is,  as  a  colloquialism  for 
kathtr.  H6l  means,  literally,  frightful,  so  its  use  is  equiva- 
lent to  the  analogous  use  of  awful  as  a  superlative  in  English. 
The  Ram  Allah  peasants  would  say  Shughal  hdl,  "An  awful 
lot  of  work  ";  tin  hdl,  "  very  many  figs." 

The  Bireh  people  use  fok  el-f6k,  which  means,  literally, 
the  up  of  the  up,  to  express  first-rate  or  excellent,  instead  of 
the  customary  *dl. 

In  Palestine  the  word  shellaby  is  very  commonly  used  to 
mean  excellent;  also  to  signify  assent,  like  all  right,  instead 
of  the  still  more  common  tayyib,  literally,  good.  Syrians  in 
America,  when  conversing  in  Arabic,  sometimes  use  instead 
of  either  of  the  above  words  the  English  all  right,  which  they 
clip  into  orrite. 

Shu  Vamal  fihf  equals  "  What  shall  I  do  about  it?  "  or, 
literally,  "  What  shall  I  do  in  it?  " 

Yd  abayyeh,  literally  an  intensification  of  "  O  my  father!  " 

1  "  Tales  told  in  Palestine,"  Hanauer  and  Mitchell,  Cincinnati,  1904, 
Jennings  &  Graham, 

176 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

is  used  in  the  face  of  difficulty  as  a  sort  of  expression  of 
dismay.  Yd  ibn  Adam,  is  used  in  expostulation,  son  of 
Adam,  equalling  man. 

Of  an  exclamatory  nature  are  the  following  as  samples  of 
peasant  usage:  Hayu,  "There  you  are/'  as  we  might  say  in 
answer  to  a  question  as  to  the  whereabouts  of  a  tool  or  other 
article.  *Un  is  a  sort  of  grunt  to  express  proof  of  one's  own 
efficiency  or  honesty.  If  you  infer  that  a  workman  is  not 
doing  his  work  well  or  skilfully,  he  will  put  in  stroke  after 
stroke  under  your  eye,  each  stroke  accompanied  by  a  self- 
approving  *Un,  'un,  as  if  to  say,  "  See  that  and  that.  Don't 
I  know  how?  "  Or  if  one  complain  to  the  man  who  is  bring- 
ing a  load  of  fire- wood  that  it  is  filled  with  dirt  and  is  not  well 
dried  (it  is  sold  by  weight),  he  will  throw  out  piece  after 
piece  of  choicer  wood  with  a  grunt  at  each  one,  as  much  as 
to  say,  "  Look  at  that,  and  that  and  that!  "  If  you  wish  to 
convince  him,  you  pick  out  piece  after  piece  of  the  inferior 
wood  and  hold  it  up  before  his  very  eyes  with  a  *Un,  *un  in 
each  case.  Eh  is  a  sort  of  aspirated  e  which  means,  "  Yes, 
that's  the  way,"  or  better,  "  That's  it,  so."  For  instance, 
if  a  boy  or  any  one  else  is  told  to  do  a  thing  and  he  seems  to 
be  interpreting  his  instructions  well,  the  one  who  is  directing 
him  will  say  encouragingly  t  Eh,  eh,  the  equivalent  of  the 
colloquial  Arabic  Ay  naam  (or  aywa)  hayk,  "  That's  it,"  or 
"  That's  right,"  or  "  Now  you've  got  it."  A  long-drawn 
'Urn  is  used  to  mean  "  I  comprehend,"  or  "  Is  that  the  way 
of  it?  Yes,  I  see  now,"  after  an  explanation  has  been  given. 
Uff  is  sometimes  expressive  of  astonishment,  but  often  of 
contempt  in  the  sense  of  "  What  a  fibber  you  are!  "  or  "  I 
can't  express  my  opinion  of  you."  Uh  is  used  in  some 
such  case  as  this.  I  ask  a  native,  "  Are  the  apples  of  Zebedany 
(near  Damascus)  good?  "  He,  knowing  that  they  are  famous 
for  quality,  will  preface  his  affirmative  with  a  breathy  Uh, 
as  if  to  say  "  Nice?  Well,  I  should  say!  "  "  Of  course  they 
are,"  or,  "  Better  than  they  do  not  exist."  Then,  perhaps, 

177 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

he  will  show  their  size  by  the  circumference  of  a  circle  which 
he  makes  with  all  the  fingers  of  one  hand  held  up.  Shi  or 
Hih  is  expressive  of  a  little  surprise  or  weak  objection;  or  it 
may  be  merely  a  gratuitous  exclamation  thrown  in  where  we 
should  expect  no  expression,  or  might  even  think  it  saucy. 
It  is  used  much  like  our  "  Hurnph."  If  a  child  is  set  a  task 
or  a  lesson  and  wishes  to  say,  "  It  is  very  hard,"  he  is  very 
apt  to  slat  the  fingers  of  the  hand  together  and  exclaim, 
E-e-ee  with  much  the  same  force  as  Yd  abbayeh  above.  Thk, 
a  sort  of  suck  with  the  tongue  and  teeth  means,  "  No." 
Sometimes  it  is  joined  with  Md  fish,  "  There  is  not,"  or  "  I 
have  nothing,"  and  the  speaker  may  snap  his  thumb  under 
the  edge  of  his  upper  teeth  in  emphasis.  Thk  is  very  often 
given  with  an  upward  toss  of  the  chin  to  mean,  "  No."  Hiss 
is  used  by  a  mother  or  older  person  to  hush  a  child.  It 
equals  "  Keep  still  "  or  "  Enough  of  foolishness." 

In  beckoning  children  the  hand  is  held  about  as  high  as 
and  near  the  shoulder,  the  palm  downwards  and  the  fingers 
shutting  back  and  forth  to  the  palm  while  "  Come,  come  " 
is  said.  To  hold  all  the  fingers  together  and  the  hand,  palm 
upward,  about  the  height  of  the  hip,  means  a  threat  like 
"  You'll  see." 

Of  curses  *  there  is  a  very  great  variety,  expressive  of  ani- 
mosity,2 disgust 3  and  impatience.4  Many  of  the  formulae 
are  shortened  until  only  the  direction  and  object  of  the  curse 
are  left  in  the  expression.  So,  should  you  hear  some  one  say 
impetuously  to  another,  "  Your  father,"  "  Your  eyes," 
"  Your  breast,"  or  "  Your  faith,"  you  might  know  that  a 
curse  was  intended  with  these  as  the  objects.  The  verb 
la'ana,  yaTanu,  which  signifies  cursing,  is  generally  under- 
stood. The  curses  are  sometimes  very  indirectly  aimed  at 
the  victim,  as,  for  instance,  when  a  donkey  driver  cursed  a 
stumbling  donkey  with  Abu  jiddak,  literally,  "  Cursed  be  the 
father  of  your  grandfather."  The  curser  may  in  this  circular 

1  Prov.  26: 2.    3  Num.  22:  6.    » 1  Sam.  17:  43.    4  Job  3: 1. 
J78 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

way  of  attack  reach  even  himself  without  apparently  minding 
the  implication,  as  when  a  man  driving  donkeys  along  the 
road  became  angry  at  one  of  them  and  shouted,  "  May  your 
owner  go  into  the  grave." 

Colloquialisms  and  stories  tend  to  pass  into  proverbs. 
The  East  is  very  rich  in  proverbial  expressions,  and  the 
Arabic  language  has  been  used  for  the  utterance  of  many 
thousands  of  them.  The  apt  introduction  and  quotation  of 
proverbs  is  considered  an  elegant  accomplishment  by  con- 
versationalists. Some  of  the  proverbs  are  accompanied  by 
explanatory  stories  telling  how  the  proverb  in  each  instance 
arose.  Then  there  are  expressions  that  are  tending  to  the 
proverbial  form.  Some  of  these  latter  will  be  mentioned 
first. 

Moslems  are  accredited  with  the  saying  that  the  bobbing 
hirdhdn  (lizard)  is  praying. 

When  three  or  more  persons  in  one  place  are  found  to  have 
the  same  name  the  people  say,  "  There  must  be  a  treasure 
about." 

Of  the  kind  of  young  man  slangily  known  among  us  as  a 
masher  the  Palestinian  says,  "  He  has  a  heavy  shadow." 

Of  a  miscellaneous  pocketful  of  things,  such  as  a  boy  might 
carry,  they  say,  Mithl  jerab  tt-kurdy,  "  Like  the  Kurd's 
pocket."  This  is  from  the  story  told  of  a  Kurd  who  had  lost 
his  wallet-pocket  by  theft.  When  the  thief  was  found  the 
Kurd  was  asked  in  court  to  describe  the  pocket  and  its  con- 
tents. He  described  the  pocket  accurately  enough,  but  in 
telling  the  contents  he  named  over  thing  after  thing  until 
he  had  mentioned  a  catalogue  of  much  that  the  world 
contains. 

With  reference  to  the  infection  of  yawning  the  story  is  told 
of  a  man  who  was  riding  a  camel  in  the  desert.  The  camel 
yawned  and  then  the  rider  yawned.  The  rider  said  to  the 
camel,  "  I  took  my  yawn  from  you;  from  whom  did  you  take 
yours?  " 

179 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

In  a  class  of  native  youth  learning  the  English  language 
one  of  the  boys  lost  his  bearings  and  was  unable  to  follow 
what  the  rest  of  the  class  was  saying,  so  he  mumbled  Mithl 
akhras  fy  zeffeh.  He  meant,  "  I  am  like  a  dumb  man  at  a 
wedding  procession."  On  such  occasions  a  ready  tongue  is 
quite  necessary. 

When  one  does  a  foolish  or  witless  thing,  another  is  apt  to 
say  impatiently  to  him,  Kathtr  minndk  thirdn,  that  is,  freely, 
"  There  are  many  oxen  of  your  kind." 

When  one  shows  lack  of  grace,  they  quote, "  The  bear  stood 
up  to  dance  and  killed  seven  or  eight  persons." 

An  ignorant  or  dull  person  is  accused  of  not  knowing  his 
elbow  from  his  wrist. 

A  rather  cynical  and  unsentimental  way  of  describing  the 
effect  on  a  man  of  the  loss  of  his  wife  is  that,  "It  is  like 
knocking  his  funny-bone." 

Of  course  rain  would  never  be  expected  in  July.  Such  a 
thing  would  be  called  zelket  fyt  tammuz,  "  a  slip  in  July,"  and 
this  expression  is  used  proverbially  to  describe  any  prodigy 
or  any  very  surprising  occurrence. 

That  good  actions  may  be  spoiled  is  expressed  by  the 
statement,  "  If  a  cow  yields  a  large  quantity  and  then  kicks 
over  the  milk-pan  she  is  not  praised." 

An  obstinate  person  is  described  by  rds-hu  ydbis  or  rds-hu 
kawy,  "  His  head  is  dry  or  hard." 

Gift-taking,  that  is,  bribery,1  is  described  as  a  sickness  to 
which  all  officials  are  proverbially  subject.  Such  a  man  is 
described  by  Butnhu  w&sfa,  byokul  kathir,2  "  He  has  an 
expansive  stomach,  he  eats  a  great  deal." 3  Of  an  official 
whose  power  is  limited  they  say,  "  His  arm  is  short."  4 
Orders  from  headquarters  in  Constantinople  not  carried  out 
by  an  under-official  are  said  to  have  been  "  put  under  the 
carpet." 

1  Prov.  15:  27;  Isa.  5:  23;  Amos.  5:  12.  2  Neh.  5:  15.  3  Cf.  Hab.  1: 
13;  Mark  12:  40.  4  Isa.  50:  2;  59:  1. 

180 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

"  When  the  salt  blossoms  "  denotes  improbabilities,  for 
which  the  following  is  also  heard,  though  I  should  not  want 
to  vouch  for  its  absolute  impossibility,  "  When  the  goat 
climbs  to  the  top  of  the  minaret."  I  have  seen  goats  in 
very  unlikely  places. 

The  following  list  of  proverbs  gives  a  sample  of  expressions 
in  common  use  among  the  peasantry  of  central  Palestine. 

Aim  Hashish  fy  hdlat  ghalbdn:  "Abu  Hashish  is  overcome 
of  his  own  matters."  This  is  used  when  a  man  already 
crowded  with  duties  is  asked  to  do  something  more. 

Habiby  bhibhu  walau  kdn  *abd  dswad:  "  I  would  love  my 
love  even  though  he  were  a  black  slave,"  illustrating  con- 
stancy. 

Ld  takul  lit  mughanny  ghanny  wald  HI  rakds  yarkus: 
"  Never  tell  a  singer  to  sing  nor  a  dancer  to  dance,"  signifying 
natural  obstinacy. 

Tub  tt-jarreh  'ala  fimhd,  tatla*  il-bint  mithl  imhd:  "  Turn 
the  jar  on  its  mouth,  the  daughter  comes  up  like  her  mother." 
The  first  part  of  the  saying  is  put  in  for  rhythm,  and  the  whole 
is  one  way  of  expressing  family  resemblances. 

Labis  el-ud  yaftid:  "  Clothe  a  stick  of  wood  and  it  will 
do  well  (or  look  well)."  The  *ud  is  the  wooden  frame  on 
which  the  bridal  trousseau  is  rigged  and  carried  in  procession 
when  the  wedding  garments  are  purchased  for  the  bride. 
The  proverb  compares  the  clothing  with  the  man  who  wears 
it  and  rather  insinuates  that  clothing  makes  the  man. 

Idhkur  idh-Dhtb  wahayay  lahu  il-kadlb:  "  If  you  think  of 
the  wolf,  get  the  stick  ready  for  him." 

Il-haribeh  thulthay  il-mardjal:  "Running  away  is  two- 
thirds  of  strength."  (Notice  the  dual,  without  ending  n,  in 
the  colloquial.) 

Ydmd  kassar  hd  il-jamal  batttkh:  "  Oh,  how  often  the  camel 
broke  melons."  It  is  said  of  one  who,  having  done  well,  ends 
by  spoiling  all.  It  is  also  applied  to  one  who,  in  making 
purchases,  at  last  buys  something  quite  beyond  his  means. 

181 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

Or  it  is  used  to  indicate  that  the  man  is  well  known  as  a 
blunderer  and  that  no  one  ought  to  be  surprised  at  a  fresh 
sample  of  his  failing. 

Kallil  il-haky  Uriah  wakuththirahu  fadddh:  "  Diminish 
the  talk  and  you  will  have  rest;  increase  it  [and  have]  dis- 
grace." * 

Mdl  kalil  majmtfa  khayr  min  mdl  kathir  mubaddad:  "A 
little  wealth  in  hand  (gathered)  is  better  than  much  wealth 
scattered  abroad  [i.  e.,  on  loan]." 

Kul  shay  'ind  H-atdr  Hid  min  kill  habbany:  "  Everything 
may  be  found  at  the  spice-sellers'  except  the  saying  '  love 
me/  "  This  is  to  the  effect  that  real  love  is  the  one  thing 
that  cannot  be  purchased.2 

Ish-sharaf  ahsan  min  khazdyn  mdl:  "  Nobility  is  better 
than  treasure-chests  of  wealth." 

Ab  ikta*  il-kutf  wald  tahdb:  "In  August  cut  the  bunch 
[grapes]  and  fear  not  [its  being  unripe]."  Everything  in  its 
proper  season. 

Id-ddr  kafrat  wal-mazdr  ba'id:  "  The  house  is  empty  and 
the  visiting  place  is  far,"  meaning  we  are  out  of  whatever  it 
is  that  is  needed  and  the  place  where  more  may  be  had  is 
far  off. 

Itlab  il-jdr  kubl  id-ddr  war-Tajik  kubl  it-tartk:  "Seek  the 
neighbor  before  the  house  and  the  company  before  the 
route."  Make  sure  of  good  neighbors  and  companions,  as 
they  are  more  necessary  to  your  welfare  than  the  mere 
house  or  road.* 

Tdallam  il-baytarah  fy  hamir  il-dkrdd:  "  He  learned  to  shoe 
horses  among  the  donkeys  of  the  Kurds."  This  is  a  con- 
temptuous way  of  indicating  that  one's  preparation  for  the 
trade  or  profession  followed  was  inadequate. 

'Ala  kadar  firdshak  midd  rijlayk:  "  According  to  the  measure 
of  your  bed  stretch  your  legs."  This  is  quoted  in  favor  of 
living  within  one's  means. 

1  Prov.  13:  3;  21;  23.    '  Cf.  Prov.  15:  17.    8  Cf.  Prov.  21: 19. 

182 


THE       PEASANTRY       OF       PALESTINE 

Il-ghdib  jihathu  mahu:  "The  absent  one  has  his  excuse 
with  him." 

Fdlij  la  tu'dlij:  "  Palsy,  don't  doctor  it."  This  one  has  a 
hopeless  touch. 

Ish-shay  matta  zdd  nuks:  "  Anything  carried  to  excess 
diminishes."  This  proverb  advises  against  overdoing. 

Md  fy  kabtr  illd  il-jamal:  "  Nothing  is  large  except  the 
camel."  Compare  this  with  "  Comparisons  are  odious." 

Il-walad  walad  walau  kdn  kddy  balad:  "  The  boy  is  a  boy 
though  he  be  judge  of  the  country." 

In  kdnrdyh  kaththirminU-kabdyh:  "  If  one  be  going  away, 
increase  the  mischief."  This  may  refer  to  an  official  who 
becomes  reckless  on  the  eve  of  his  discharge,  or  possibly  to 
the  people  who,  in  view  of  the  near  departure  of  their  superior, 
take  advantage  of  the  fact  to  perpetrate  mischief.  Compare, 
"  When  the  cat's  away  the  mice  will  play." 

Mdl  il-majdnin  lil-akdl:  "  The  wealth  of  the  crazy  is  for 
the  wise." 

Kalb  hdmtt  khurj  mdl:  "  A  dog  carrying  a  saddle-bag  of 
wealth."  This  refers  to  an  unworthy  owner  of  wealth.1 

In  rdhat  ghannat  wan  jdt  ghannat:  "  Whether  it  goes  or 
comes  I  shall  sing."  The  one  so  saying  declares  that  he  will 
be  joyous  despite  circumstances. 

Bayn  hdnd  wamdnd  rdhat  lihdnd:  "  Between  this  and  that 
the  beard  went."  In  case  a  man  is  given  conflicting  orders  he 
quotes  the  above  to  the  effect  that  between  coming  and 
going  one's  beard  is  in  danger  of  flying  off.  The  syllable  na 
on  the  end  of  the  last  word  is  added  for  euphony  merely. 

Hdfitha  'ala  is-sadik  walau  fil-harik:  "  Succor  your  friend 
though  he  be  in  fire." 

Khayr  tt-dmtir  l-wast:  "  The  good  of  things  is  in  mod- 
eration."8 

Ziyddeh  tt-khayr  khayr:   "  Increase  makes  good  better." 

Is-subr  miftdh  U-faraj:  "  Patience  is  the  key  of  relief." 

'C/.Prov.  11:22. 2C/.  Prov.  25: 16. 
183 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

'Attamndk  ish-shihdeh  sabakthand  'ala  il-bdb:  "  I  taught  you 
begging  and  you  got  to  the  door  before  I  did."  This  was  a 
beggar's  proverb  originally  and  illustrates  the  fact  that  the 
pupil  may  outdo  his  teacher. 

Mithl  azimeh  il-hamar  lil-urs:  "Like  the  invitation  of  a 
donkey  to  a  wedding."  This  is  applicable  when  one  who  is 
invited  as  a  guest  is  asked  to  work.  The  donkey's  function 
on  festive  occasions  is  to  fetch  and  carry, 


SONG   OF  THE   SAHJEH 

Good  evening,  all  ye  who  are  present ; 

In  the  middle  of  the  garden  is  a  green  bird  chirping  to  you. 

O  mother  of  the  only  one,  bless  thee  for  what  thou  didst  for  him. 
On  his  wedding  day  thou  didst  grind  hia  flour  at  Zerka. 

Were  it  not  for  love  we'd  not  come  walking, 
Nor  would  we  tread  on  your  ground. 

Good  evening,  thou  owner  of  a  silver  rosary  I 
After  starting  lovingly,  why  is  there  this  hatred? 

Good  evening,  O  possessor  of  an  amber  rosary! 
After  starting  lovingly,  why  dost  thou  fight? 

The  sand  cannot  be  kneaded,  nor  thorns  trodden, 
Nor  the  secret  displayed  to  all  the  people. 

How  many  palms  have  we  climbed  without  ladder, 
And  how  many  offenses  of  friends  have  we  overlooked! 

O  sweet,  O  beautiful,  thy  letter  came  to  us ; 
As  we  read  it  how  our  tears  flowed. 

0  excellent,  sweet,  moving  thy  lips, 

Thou  hast  wounded  hearts;  we  beg  thee  let  us  come  to  thee. 

For  my  friend,  friendship  should  abide; 

As  for  the  disloyal  the  day  of  judgment  shall  find  him. 

For  what  reason  dost  thou  close  thine  eyes  without  sleepiness? 
Thou  pleasest  not  me  but  other  people. 

1  shall  rush  on  you  at  noon,  you  who  are  in  my  mind; 
With  the  sword  shall  I  [over]  throw  you  with  high  windows. 

184 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

With  the  sword  shall  I  charge  you  in  the  darkness  of  the  night; 
I'll  take  my  sword  and  cause  the  blood  to  flow. 

0  beloved,  O  beloved,  thou  whom  the  heart  desires, 
Since  the  day  of  thy  departure  my  heart  counts  the  nights. 

Thou  oughtest  to  be  sorry  for  leaving  us, 

Thou  wilt  weep  tears  of  grief  when  thou  seest  us. 

1  passed  by  their  house  and  said  not  a  word ; 

The  tears  of  my  eyes  dropped  before  me  on  the  stone. 

The  tree  of  love  is  cast  out  by  the  gate  of  Damascus; 
I  was  dying  and  my  friend  came  not  to  me. 

The  tree  of  love  at  the  gate  of  Damascus  is  swaying; 
I  was  dying  and  my  friend  did  not  come  to  ask. 

0  tree  of  love,  at  the  gate  of  Damascus,  it  is  green; 

1  was  near  to  dying  and  my  friend  came  not  once. 

Do  not  think  that  good  style  consists  in  ample  clothes; 
Good  style  is  providing  dishes  for  the  men. 

Do  not  think  that  good  style  consists  in  elegant  robes; 

Good  style  consists  in  large  trenchers,  in  kindness  and  generosity. 

O  Egypt,  O  how  far  off  art  thou,  in  whom  is  the  beloved ! 
If  I  live  another  year  I  must  surely  live  in  thee. 

0  sweet  one,  bring  thy  bottle  and  we'll  drink  and  fill  it; 
Thy  people  are  far  and  thy  country's  water  is  scarce. 

What  brought  thee  forth,  O  gazel,  to  roam? 
To  look  on  thy  country,  O  sweet,  and  return. 

What  brought  thee  from  thy  country,  single,  alone? 

1  want  to  look  on  thy  country  and  I  want  a  friend. 

Our  dear  ones,  because  of  their  ambition,  they  left  us; 
Because  of  scarcity  of  money  they  traded  among  us. 

0  heart,  leave  them,  count  them  as  dead ; 

1  put  them  in  my  eye  and  they  did  not  fit. 

O  seller  of  coffee,  I  want  a  rutl  of  thy  coffee; 

Yesterday  afternoon  I  saw  the  woman  who  bought  of  thee. 

O  daughter  of  the  Arab  shaykh,  O  wearer  of  the  blue  mantle, 
Thy  father  is  an  Arab  shaykh  ruling  o'er  the  Belka. 

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O  daughter  of  the  Arab  shaykh,  O  wearer  of  the  black  mantle, 
Thy  father  is  an  Arab  shaykh  ruling  o'er  the  'Auja. 

O  daughter  of  the  Arab  amir,  O  Turcomany, 
Untie  the  fastenings  of  the  shoes  and  walk. 

O  daughter  of  the  Arab  am!r,  we  can  find  no  fault  in  thee; 
Thy  father  is  a  pasha  and  thy  uncle  is  an  Arab  shaykh. 

The  eyebrow  of  the  eye  deserves  burning, 
Of  that  one  who  winks  at  a  low  fellow. 

SONG   OF  THE   DABKEH 

O  man  with  the  forelock  tossing, 
Thy  speech  is  very  choice. 

The  love  of  thee  o'ercame  me! 
My  strength  cannot  [resist]. 

The  love  of  thee  o'ercame  me; 

May  the  Lord  of  Heaven  establish  thee. 

O  graceful  one,  wear  thy  robe 
With  the  knot  turned  behind. 

O  beautiful,  O  father  of  Sh6ra, 
Thy  cheeks  are  as  crystal. 

Thy  love  into  my  very  heart 
Dug  [its  way]  and  made  a  pit. 

O  beautiful,  holder  of  a  handkerchief, 
Thy  signs  burned  my  very  heart. 

O  beautiful,  I  am  not  thy  equal; 
Thy  price  is  that  of  precious  wood. 

I've  never  seen  so  excellent  among  the  Arabs, 
O  beautiful  one  of  sweet  manners. 

Thy  breast  is  as  the  tablet  of  the  Khatlb; 
O  that  fate  would  bestow  thee  on  me! 

Thy  breast  is  as  the  tablet  of  the  Khatlb; 
Upon  it  are  the  letters  unknown. 

Thou  causest  me  worriment  and  suffering, 
Thou  who  art  to  me  unlawful. 

186 


THE       PEASANTRY       OF       PALESTINE 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE    LIFE   TO-DAY   AS   ILLUSTRATED    BY   ACTUAL   VILLAGES 

SUCH  tourists  as  have  a  student's  interest  in  addition  to  a 
desire  for  mere  sightseeing  will  find  the  value  of  their  Pales- 
tine visit  doubled  if  they  will  allow  some  days  for  visiting 
villages.  If  one  will  go  in  as  quiet  and  unobtrusive  a  way  as 
possible,  and  with  the  aid  of  an  introduction  to  some  house- 
holder of  the  village,  one  will  be  able  to  learn  much.  Certain 
of  the  missionaries  in  Jerusalem  as  elsewhere  devote  them- 
selves to  itinerating  among  the  villages  and  are  fully  ac- 
quainted with  conditions  of  which  it  would  be  well  for  a 
novice  to  be  informed.  The  village  of  Ram  Allah  is  one  of 
the  most  satisfactory  places  accessible  from  Jerusalem  for  the 
purpose  of  seeing  well-developed  Syrian  village  life.  It  is 
ten  miles  north  of  Jerusalem  and  is  now  reached  by  an  ex- 
cellent carriage  road.  It  is  one  mile  from  the  much  smaller 
village  of  el-Bireh,  which  lies  on  the  main  carriage  road  from 
Jerusalem,  northwards  toward  Nablus  (Shechem).  This 
slight  remove  from  the  main  line  of  tourist  travel,  its  con- 
siderable size  and  the  superior  intelligence  of  its  inhabitants 
have  joined  to  produce  a  good,  wholesome  sample  of  a 
native  village,  neither  so  metamorphosed  as  some  of  the 
larger  places  nor  so  squalid  and  degenerate  as  many  of  the 
smaller  villages. 

It  was  in  May,  1901,  that  the  road  mentioned  was  opened 
up  for  use  from  Jerusalem  to  el-Bireh,  a  distance  of  fifteen 
kilometers.  From  the  Damascus  Gate,  where  the  Bireh  and 
Ram  Allah  carriage  owners  stand,  the  route  leads  out  past 
the  Dominican  Compound,  within  which  is  a  church  of  St. 
Stephen  and  a  theological  school  conducted  by  the  eminent 
French  scholars  of  the  order.  On  the  left,  opposite,  is  the 

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THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

large  milling  property  leased  for  many  years  by  Mr.  Berg- 
heim.  Next  on  the  left  is  an  olive  grove,  and  a  little  way 
farther  on  the  pleasant  garden  and  large  square  building  of 
the  English  Church  Mission,  where  the  society  conducts  a 
collegiate  institute.  Next  on  the  right,  beyond  an  olive 
grove,  is  the  costly  and  well-built  compound  of  the  High 
Church  Anglican  bishop  for  Jerusalem  and  the  Near  East. 
On  the  left  opposite  are  the  new  school  buildings  under  his 
auspices.  Just  beyond  the  Anglican  Compound,  at  the 
fountain  known  as  Bir  el-Kelb,  a  street  coming  from  Herod's 
Gate,  Jerusalem,  intersects  the  main  road.  Just  up  this 
street  a  few  steps  on  the  left  is  the  entrance  to  the  so-called 
Tombs  of  the  Kings,  one  of  the  places  well  worth  looking  at. 
The  next  largest  building  on  the  right  before  coming  to  the 
minaret  is  occupied  by  the  community  of  "  The  Overcomers." 
They  control  property  on  both  sides  of  the  highway.  A 
little  beyond  this  point  the  road  makes  a  long  loop  to  the 
right  in  order  to  save  a  steep  climb  by  the  old  bridle-path 
which  goes  straight  on  past  the  houses  of  some  Moslem 
officials  of  Jerusalem  who  prefer  the  more  ample  and  com- 
fortable liberty  of  suburban  building  sites.  Here  one  has  a 
pretty  view  of  the  upper  part  of  the  Kidron  Valley.  On 
up  a  slight  hill  and  then  down  a  long  easy  descent,  and  one 
is  brought  to  the  foot  of  another  steep  bridle-path,  which  the 
road  avoids  by  another  curve  to  the  right  toward  the  Mount 
of  Olives  and  a  loop  to  the  left  on  to  the  top  of  Mount 
Scopus.  From  Scopus  there  is  a  charming  view  of  Jerusalem. 
Beginning  at  the  far  right  (north)  of  the  suburbs,  one  sees 
the  black,  formerly  blue,  dome  of  the  Abyssinian  Church; 
then  to  the  left  the  delicate,  shapely,  blue  cupolas  of  the 
church  in  the  Russian  Compound;  then  just  inside  the  north- 
west corner  of  the  city  wall,  the  sharp  spire  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church,  the  low  black  dome  of  the  Church  of  the 
Holy  Sepulcher,  the  whitish  tower  of  the  German  Church 
and  the  domes,  red  and  blue,  of  the  great  synagogues.  To 

188 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

the  left  and  farther  over  is  the  large  dome  and  symmetrical 
building  of  the  Kubbet  es-Sakhra  (sometimes  called  the 
Mosk  of  Omar)  in  the  southeastern  corner  of  the  city.  Turn- 
ing now  from  the  city  one  will  see  some  six  miles  northwest 
of  Jerusalem  the  lofty  minaret  of  Neby  Samwil,  on  the  hill 
thought  to  be  the  Mizpeh  of  Samuel.  This  place  can  be  seen 
from  many  points  of  old  Judea.  The  village  in  the  fore- 
ground almost  due  north  and  by  the  side  of  the  carriage 
road  is  Sha'f&t.  The  name  is  thought  to  be  the  last  two 
syllables  of  the  name  Jehoshaphat.  Nearly  opposite  Sha'fat 
some  find  the  site  of  Nob,  the  city  of  the  priests  of  Saul's 
time.  If  one  had  time  to  go  to  the  top  of  the  hill  between 
Scopus  and  the  Mount  of  Olives,  where  the  large  buildings 
are  placed,  one  could  see  the  peculiar  formation  of  the  hill- 
country  that  leads  down  back  of  Jerusalem  to  Jericho  and 
the  Dead  Sea.  The  Dead  Sea  and  the  table-land  the  other 
side  of  the  Jordan  would  be  visible.  In  fact,  but  a  few 
minutes  north  of  Scopus,  on  the  carriage  road,  one  may  see 
the  bluish  Moab  hills  looming  up  in  an  even  line  beyond  the 
Jordan  River,  whose  bed  is  hidden  because  it  lies  over  three- 
fifths  of  a  mile  lower  than  the  level  of  this  spot  though  less 
than  twenty  miles  away.  That  is  a  very  considerable  drop  in 
levels  for  so  short  a  distance,  as  one  realizes  when  one  goes  by 
carriage  from  Jerusalem  down  to  Jericho  and  the  Dead  Sea. 
But  to  return  to  the  village  of  Sha'f&t  already  mentioned, 
one  sees  beyond  it  on  the  right  a  peculiarly  shaped  hill  with 
an  artificial  look  about  its  incised  top  which  is  regarded  as  the 
site  of  Gibeah  of  Saul.  Off  to  the  left  is  the  village  of  Bayt 
Hanina.  After  a  long  curve  or  two  one  begins  to  descend 
more  swiftly.  From  this  point  one  can  see  far  to  the  right 
on  the  northeast  a  prettily  situated  village  on  a  sharp  hilltop. 
It  is  et-Tayyibeh,  of  which  more  later  on.  To  the  left  as 
one  proceeds  appear  remains  of  an  old  Roman  road.  It  is 
noticeable  all  the  way  from  Scopus  and  from  here  to  el- 
Bireh,  though  at  times  as  now  it  takes  a  short  cut  where 

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THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

the  present  road  makes  a  curve.  The  old  road  intersects  the 
new  where  the  latter  crosses  the  bridge  at  the  bottom  of  the 
valley.  This  bridge  is  called  the  half-way  bridge  between 
Jerusalem  and  el-Bireh.  There  is  a  good  stream  under  the 
bridge  in  rainy  weather.  The  small  village  that  rises  on  a 
hill  just  beyond  the  half-way  bridge  to  the  north  is  er-Ram, 
possibly  the  Ramah  of  Samuel,  though  Ram  and  Ramah 
mean  simply  an  elevated  site.  Just  by  the  left  (west)  side 
of  the  road  as  one  comes  opposite  the  village  is  an  arched 
ruin.  About  it  are  other  evidences  of  decay.  After  the 
ruin  comes  a  long  level  stretch  and  another  little  bridge. 
Along  here  of  an  evening  one  sometimes  sees  a  fox.  The 
village  to  the  left  (west)  is  Kulundyeh.  To  the  right  (east) 
runs  a  path  that  will  take  one  past  er-Ram  to  Jeba',  and  so 
to  Wady  Mukhmas  (Michmash)  or  to  'Ayn  Fdra  and  the 
Jordan.  At  the  place  where  the  road  bends  to  the  right 
around  the  truncated  hill  of  'Atara  there  is  a  dismantled 
lime-kiln  and  a  rough  donkey  path  leading  off  to  the  left 
(north).  This  rude  path  is  the  old  road  to  the  village  of 
Ram  Allah.  It  goes  to  the  west  of  the  hill  of  'Atara,  while 
the  carriage  road  goes  to  the  east  of  it.  The  carriage  road 
allows  one  to  reach  el-Bireh  easily  in  twenty  minutes.  It 
passes  between  'Atara  and  another  hill  on  the  right  (east) 
of  it  along  a  pretty  stretch  of  valley.  At  least  it  is  pretty 
toward  evening,  when  perhaps  one  will  see  a  little  owl 
among  the  rocks.  The  stream  of  'Ayn  Nusbeh  is  trickling 
or  splashing,  according  to  the  season,  down  the  side  of 
'Atara  near  a  little  bridge.  One  evening  I  rode  out  towards 
this  place  from  Ram  Allah  on  our  saddle  animal  "  Daisy  "  to 
meet  the  carriage.  Daisy  was  very  loth  to  travel  away 
from  home,  but  very  glad  whenever  I  turned  her  head  about. 
The  evening  was  lovely.  As  the  light  went  out  over  the  hills 
toward  the  western  sea  the  changing  color  on  the  horizon  on 
the  near  hills,  on  the  rocks  all  about,  and  the  quietness  cast 
a  spell  of  peace  unique  to  these  surroundings.  After  the 

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THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

reds  had  faded  out  of  the  soil  and  rocks,  a  somber  ink  color, 
dark  purple,  black,  came  on.  A  clump  of  dry  brush  topping 
a  little  watch-tower  on  a  near  hill  seemed  to  belong  to  a 
farther  hill  behind  it  and,  as  I  rode  along,  to  be  a  human 
figure  moving  on  that  far  hill.  I  met  the  carriage  after  dark 
near  'At&ra  and  came  back  in  front  of  it. 

At  the  top  of  the  next  long  slope  one  has  the  vineyards 
of  Rdm  Allah  on  the  left  and  el-Bireh  on  the  right.  The 
little  village  of  el-Bireh,  rich  in  shrubbery  and  the  choicest 
spring  for  many  miles  around,  lies  on  a  gentle  slope  facing 
the  south.  First  among  its  trees  are  some  figs,  then  come 
gardens,  walls  and  the  spring  with  the  little  domed  building. 
Beyond  on  the  right  are  the  ruins  of  its  ancient  khan  and 
then  the  straggling  village  houses  of  stone.  Pomegranates, 
figs,  etc.,  are  scattered  through  the  place.  The  new  khan 
is  on  the  carriage  road  at  the  top  of  the  village.  The 
little  shanty  on  the  left  of  the  road  across  from  the  spring 
is  a  sort  of  coffee  kh£n  merely  and  a  lounging  place  for 
passers-by.  Half-way  up  the  road  before  it  swings  to  the 
right  towards  the  new  kh&n  with  stables,  the  R&m  Allah  road 
goes  off  to  the  left  (west)  over  the  rising  ground  that  hides 
the  village  from  view.  It  is  less  than  a  mile  to  R&m  Allah, 
and  the  path  to  it  traverses  a  different  part  of  the  country 
from  that  which  is  seen  on  the  carriage  road.  All  along  the 
highway  one  feels  that  but  a  few  paces  anywhere  would  take 
one  to  views  of  the  deep  cut  of  the  Jordan  Valley  and  the 
Dead  Sea  region,  with  the  ever-enticing  blue  and  hazy  line 
of  Moab's  hills  beyond.  But  here  is  another  side  of  the 
country  of  Palestine.  This  rise  in  the  ground  between  el- 
Bireh  and  R&m  All&h  is  on  the  watershed  of  Western  Pales- 
tine. On  the  outskirts  of  the  village  is  the  land  for  the  Boys' 
School,  the  property  of  the  (American)  Friends  (Quakers), 
who  for  many  years  have  done  most  significant  and  prac- 
tical work  in  the  training  of  youth. 

The  inhabitants  of  R&m  Allah  are  industrious  and  thrifty, 

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THE       PEASANTRY       OF       PALESTINE 

and  most  of  the  village  land  is  under  excellent  cultivation 
in  choice  grape  vineyards  and  orchards  of  figs  and  olives. 
The  needs  of  Ram  Allah  are  so  much  in  excess  of  the  lands 
which  are  legally  recorded  as  belonging  to  it  that  its  people 
have  bought  tracts  here  and  there  all  about  the  country. 
The  lands  right  around  the  village  are  so  much  more  valuable 
as  vineyards  and  orchards  than  for  raising  the  grains  that 
the  farmers  have  pushed  out  and  acquired  these  outside 
fields  from  the  lands  of  a  dozen  or  more  villages  as  far  as 
'Ayn  Kanyeh,  Mukhmas  and  Dayr  Diwan.  For  such  out- 
side lands  the  Ram  Allah  people  have  no  government  deeds 
(kushdn,  plural  kuwashm),  the  title  resting,  so  far  as  the 
government  records  are  concerned,  with  the  original  village 
owners,  and  so  the  taxes  are  collected  from  them.  But  it  is 
perfectly  understood  among  the  people  in  whom  the  owner- 
ship in  fact  rests,  and  these  actual  owners  pay  the  yearly 
taxes  for  the  land  to  the  former  owners.  The  government 
collects  land  taxes  directly  from  Ram  Allah  for  those  lands 
only  which  are  within  Ram  Allah's  legal  boundaries,  which 
are  much  narrower  than  its  acquired  boundaries.  A  kind 
of  private  deed  suffices  as  part  of  the  evidence  of  transfer 
between  the  peasants. 

On  the  east  of  Ram  Allah  as  one  enters  the  village  the 
legal  or,  better,  original  boundary  corner  is  marked  by  an 
underground  cistern  known  as  Bir  esh-Sherkeh  (The  East 
Cistern).  It  is  on  one's  left  in  approaching  the  village,  some 
rods  before  the  property  of  'Abdullah  Totah,  which  is  on  the 
other  or  right-hand  side.  The  next  house  and  property  are 
those  of  'Isa  Shatara.  Then  comes  a  small  vineyard,  opposite 
which  is  the  Harb  house  on  the  left.  From  the  top  of  this 
building  one  has  a  view  of  the  Mediterranean  on  one  side  and 
of  the  Moab  hills  on  the  other.  Next  on  the  right  is  the 
large  monastery  property  of  the  Franciscans,  on  the  left  the 
house  and  chapel  of  the  Church  Missionary  Society.  Then 
(left)  is  passed  the  house  of  a  dumb  man,  father  of  a  con- 

192 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

slderable  family  and  owner  of  a  well-cultivated  garden  plot. 
He  is  quite  ingenious  at  a  pantomime  method  of  talking  and 
story-telling.  His  trade  is  that  of  roof-mender,  which  craft 
is  in  demand,  as  the  cemented  joints  between  the  flat  stones 
of  the  native  roofs  have  to  be  kept  in  good  repair  against  the 
soaking  rains  of  winter.  Next  on  the  left  is  one  of  the  en- 
trances to  the  Friends'  Girls'  School  property.  The  partic- 
ular bit  of  their  land  that  touches  the  road  here  goes  in  all 
the  neighborhood  by  the  name  el-Khums,  that  is,  The  Fifth, 
because  in  some  past  division  of  the  land  it  represented  that 
fraction  of  a  larger  lot.  Next  by  turning  the  bend  to  the 
left  one  comes  into  a  street  about  three  hundred  twenty- 
five  feet  long  and  a  trifle  less  than  thirteen  feet  wide,  in 
which  are  seven  houses  on  the  south  (left)  side  and  eight 
houses  on  the  north  (right)  side.  Among  their  tenants  are  four 
weavers  and  one  dyer.  The  dyer  is  a  tall,  strapping  fellow 
from  the  north,  a  Moslem  who  came  to  the  village  in  1901. 
At  that  time  he  was  the  only  Moslem  in  the  place.  By  a 
little  jog  to  the  left  at  the  end  of  the  street  one  avoids  run- 
ning into  a  building  which  for  years  has  been  used  by  the 
Friends'  Mission  as  a  primary  schoolroom  and  a  Sunday 
meeting  place  of  the  congregation  that  attends  the  Friends' 
meetings  for  worship  and  the  Bible  School.  Nearly  opposite 
this  building  is  the  dispensary  of  the  native  physician,  Dr. 
Maluf ,  a  graduate  of  the  College  of  Medicine  in  Beirut.  Thence 
one  may  go  southeast  to  the  front  entrance  of  the  Girls' 
Training  Home  (Friends')  or  west  along  the  main  axis  of 
the  village,  the  market  street,  which  is  a  continuation  of  the 
street  by  which  we  just  entered  the  village,  except  for  the 
slight  jog  to  the  left  in  coming  down  hill.  These  very  jogs, 
of  which  many  maybe  seen  about  the  village,  are  illustrative 
of  a  principle,  or  the  lack  of  one,  in  the  community  life. 
Streets  and  paths  grow  up  by  common  consent  of  the  house- 
holders, who  feel  the  need  of  such  conveniences  for  egress  or 
ingress,  but  they  are  allowances  from  private  property  or, 

193 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

better,  communal  property.  Sometimes  a  builder  finds  it 
convenient  to  set  his  house  somewhat  into  the  road,  thus 
destroying  the  alignment  of  the  street.  Walls  of  stone  and 
mortar  are  permanent  structures,  and  the  line  cannot  be 
corrected  by  any  legal  means. 

The  main  part  of  the  market  street  runs  between  the 
property  of  the  village  church  on  one  side  (south)  and  a 
row  of  shops  and  houses  on  the  other  (north).  There  are 
ten  provision  shops,  five  shoe  shops  and  two  weaving-rooms 
along  this  street.  A  great  deal  of  local  marketing  is  done  in 
the  open  street.  Here  the  wheat-laden  animals  from  the 
country  northeast  of  Ram  Allah  bring  their  burdens.  Huge 
camels,  with  a  back  load  of  clay  jars  held  in  a  rope  net,  or 
carrying  sacks  of  melons  or  grain,  are  made  to  saunter  in 
and  kneel.  Women  with  head  loads  of  vegetables,  eggs, 
snails  and  other  food  products,  and  men  from  Nablus  with 
ready-made  kinabtz  and  other  articles  of  men's  wear,  stand 
ready  for  customers.  Fruit  venders,  buyers  and  sellers  from 
all  the  villages  about  are  apt  to  be  found  here,  for  Ram 
Allah  is  what  might  be  called  a  county-seat.  Some  one 
from  et-Tayyibeh  or  from  Kefr  Malik  will  come  to  sell  oil 
or  other  produce,  and  buy  some  necessities,  perhaps  a  pair 
of  shoes,  to  take  home.  This  main  market  street  of  the 
village  is  about  three  hundred  feet  long  (from  Dr.  Ma'luf  s 
curb  to  the  entrance  of  the  Greek  Church  yard)  and  for  the 
most  part  about  fifteen  and  a  half  feet  wide.  About  two- 
thirds  of  the  distance  down  there  opens  from  it  on  the  right 
(north)  the  entrance  to  the  village  khdn. 

Owners  of  camels,  mules  or  donkeys  buy  up  supplies  of  oil, 
dried  figs  and  wheat  from  the  villages  and  sell  -them  in  the 
village  markets,  or  carry  them  to  Jerusalem  and  Jaffa.  From 
Jaffa  they  may  bring  up  rice,  sugar,  kerosene,  oranges  and 
wood  to  supply  the  R&m  Allah  merchants.  Such  articles  in 
bulk  are  very  apt  to  come  from  the  seashore  direct,  but 
others  are  brought  out  from  Jerusalem. 

194 


CAMEL   CARRYING   A    ROPE   NET   FILLED    WITH    CLAY   JARS 


RAM  ALL&H,  AS  ENTERED  BY  THE  SINUOUS,  WALLED  LANE,  FROM  THE  EAST 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

There  are  something  over  two  scores  of  shops  in  Ram 
Allah,  counting  eight  shoemakers',  a  dozen  weavers'  and 
several  butchers'  stands.  There  are  a  good  many  quarriers, 
stone-masons  and  stone-dressers,  plasterers  and  roof-menders. 
Most  of  the  people  have  work  of  some  kind  on  the  small 
farming  plots,  vineyards  and  orchards.  There  are  a  few 
presses  for  making  the  oil  and  several  cisterns  for  storing  it. 
A  few  public  carriages  have  been  introduced  since  the  open- 
ing of  the  way  to  Jerusalem  for  vehicles. 

A  butcher's  fixtures  consist  of  some  iron  hooks  in  the  wall 
at  the  street  side.  Sheep  have  for  years  been  killed  right 
in  the  streets,  the  carcasses  being  hung  up  against  abutting 
buildings,  dressed  quickly  and  divided  to  waiting  customers. 
Perhaps  a  little  girl  is  waiting  to  carry  home  some  scraps  in 
her  sleeve.  A  member  of  a  larger  or  richer  household  buys 
a  larger  piece,  which  is  held  in  a  scrap  of  brown  paper  or, 
more  likely,  a  vessel  brought  from  home.  Sometimes,  how- 
ever, the  purchase  is  carried  off  as  it  is.  The  matter  of  price 
is  a  simple  one;  it  is  the  same  for  any  part  of  the  creature. 
Haggling  may  vary  it  a  trifle,  unless  the  demand  for  meat  on 
a  given  day  is  unusual.  Ordinarily  the  killing  of  a  sheep  is 
deferred  until  a  market  for  the  meat  is  fairly  well  assured. 
The  price  in  Ram  Allah  ranges  from  eight  to  twelve  cents  a 
pound,  according  to  the  season  of  the  year  and  the  scarcity 
of  sheep.  Goat  meat  is  cheaper.  Sometimes  beef  is  offered, 
but  one  usually  suspects  the  health  of  a  cow  that  has  been 
killed  and  prefers  lamb.  In  Jerusalem  fair  beef  can  be  ob- 
tained, but  seldom  can  it  be  had  in  the  country. 

From  a  point  a  little  beyond  the  end  of  the  market  proper 
a  street  turns  to  the  left  (south),  passes  the  back  entrance  to 
the  Greek  Church  property  and  goes  off  towards  the  largest 
village  threshing-floor.  On  this  road  there  are  twenty-two 
houses,  one  store  and  one  silversmith's  shop.  Seven  hundred 
eighty  feet  along  this  way  is  the  threshing-floor.  Not  quite 
half-way  to  the  threshing-floor  is  an  open  space  used  as  a 

195 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

sort  of  secondary  market  for  such  things  as  would  take  up 
too  much  room  in  the  main  street.  From  the  beginning  of 
the  threshing-floor  one  hundred  thirty  feet  onward  brings 
one  opposite  an  interesting  place.  It  is  a  little  sanctuary  in 
a  cave  and  is  about  a  short  stone's  throw  to  the  right  (west), 
under  a  large  tree  which  can  be  seen  from  the  road. 

After  passing  a  few  more  houses  one  is  well  out  of  town  on 
the  road  which  leads  between  vineyards  towards  Baytunyeh, 
eAyn  'Arik  and  Ramleh.  Most  of  the  vineyards  arc  to  the 
southwest  and  south  of  the  village.  The  Khulleh,  or 
valley,  at  the  southwest  has  the  best  stretch  of  vineyard 
land.  Most  of  the  fig-orchards  are  to  the  west  of  the  village 
and  most  of  the  olives  are  on  the  northwest.  Lately  some 
fine  vineyards  have  been  made  to  the  northwest  near  cAyn 
Misbah,  and  there  are  some  to  the  northeast  around  the 
'Audy  property  and  east  of  trie  Latin  (Franciscan)  monastery. 

From  the  watershed  Ram  Allah  slopes  away  in  a  westerly 
direction,  draining  towards  the  Mediterranean.  North  of 
the  village  is  a  deep  valley  that  heads  on  the  east  at  the 
watershed  and  falls  away  on  the  west  toward  Kefriyeh. 
The  country  falls  gradually  towards  'Ayn  'Arik  to  the  north- 
west and  to  the  Balu'a  or  sunken  meadow,  where  a  winter 
pond  stands  near  Baytunyeh  to  the  southwest.  To  the 
south,  southeast  and  south-southwest  the  land  rises  into 
hills  towards  'Atara  and  Khurbet  Suwaykeh. 

Our  first  visual  impressions  of  Ram  Allah  were  received 
on  an  afternoon  early  in  April,  1901,  before  the  completion 
of  the  carriage  road,  as  we  approached  it  by  the  old  bridle- 
path already  mentioned.  By  this  path  Ram  Allah  is  hidden 
from  sight  until  one  rises  to  the  summit  just  to  the  south  of 
the  village,  where  many  of  the  villagers  have  vineyards 
planted.  Between  this  hill  and  the  village  lies  a  soft  de- 
pression which,  beginning  at  the  watershed  to  the  east  of 
the  village,  dips  away  to  the  southwest  towards  the  little 
village  of  Rafat  and  beyond,  disclosing  a  beautiful  view 

196 


LITTLE   GIRLS   OF   THE    VILLAGE 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

of  ancient  Gibeon  (el-Jib)  and  Mizpeh  of  Samuel  (Neby 
Samwil).  There  the  village  of  Ram  Allah  rested  partly  in 
the  edge  of  the  valley,  but  mostly  spread  along  the  opposite 
ridge.  The  gentler  rays  of  the  afternoon  sun  brought  out 
the  creamy  tints  of  the  stone  houses  standing  in  their  cubical 
solidity.  Here  and  there  rose  a  taller  building;  at  the  left 
was  the  red-tiled  roof  of  the  Greek  Orthodox  Church.  But 
by  far  the  choicest  bit  of  the  panorama  was  the  house  and 
grounds  of  the  Friends'  Mission  property.  The  house  had 
one  of  the  rare,  tiled  roofs  evidencing  Western  influence 
among  the  flat  and  domed  structures  of  the  truly  Oriental 
style.  The  well-constructed  stone  building  was  the  home  of 
the  Girls'  Training  Home,  a  boarding-school  for  young 
Syrian  women,  supported  by  the  New  England  Yearly  Meet- 
ing of  Friends,  and  named  after  two  of  their  honored  members, 
"  The  Eli  and  Sybil  Jones  Mission."  I  had  seen  pictures  of 
the  place  and  so  knew  it  at  once,  though  there  was  now 
added  the  charm  of  colors.  The  building  sat  in  sweet 
Quakerly  composure  among  numerous  trees  and  vines. 
Tall,  pointed  cypresses,  pines  and  various  fruit  trees 
abounded,  which  once  so  delighted  the  gaze  of  a  little  girl 
in  the  village  that  she  boldly  declared  that  she  knew 
where  heaven  was.  She  thought  she  had  seen  it  when  she 
looked  through  the  Mission  Gate  on  the  well-kept  grounds 
filled  with  beautiful  green.  Such  gardens  could  be 
duplicated  all  over  the  country  at  a  small  price  beyond 
patience. 

Just  above  the  Friends'  grounds  is  the  house  owned  by 
the  English  Church  Missionary  Society,  who  make  Ram 
Allah  headquarters  for  their  work  in  different  villages  of 
this  region.  For  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  the 
agents  of  the  society  had  been  Mr.  and  Mrs.  George  Nyland, 
who,  in  their  early  years,  went  out  from  Holland  to  Egypt 
as  missionaries,  but  after  a  few  years  entered  the  Church 
Missionary  Society  work  in  Palestine. 

197 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

The  nearest  neighbor  at  the  front  was  the  so-called  "  Old 
Man  at  the  Gate."  He  had  earned  this  title,  suggestive  of 
unpleasant  nearness,  by  a  certain  ability  to  introduce  him- 
self when  no  one  else  did  so.  It  was  a  practise  of  his  to 
come  up  through  the  grounds  into  the  house  once  or  twice 
each  year  to  ask  for  an  envelope  and  paper.  The  sensa- 
tion was  like  the  imposition  of  a  tax.  He  assured  us  of  his 
great  friendliness  and  his  usefulness  to  the  Mission.  He 
often  spoke  of  the  piece  of  land  near  the  south  gate  where 
the  small  cistern  was  as  an  evidence  of  his  goodness  to  us, 
in  that  he  had  sold  it  to  us  for  a  very  small  price,  though  the 
traditions  of  the  mission  were  that  he  had  received  a  very 
good  price  for  it.  I  recollect  the  way  in  which  one  of  his 
sons  disappointed  us.  We  had  as  guests  over  night  some 
missionaries  who  depended  for  their  start  the  next  morning 
at  five  o'clock  on  our  promise  to  secure  the  animals  to  take 
them  on  to  Nablus.  We  bargained  with  one  of  the  old 
man's  sons  to  provide  us  a  saddled  animal  and  considered 
our  business  done,  but  about  nine  o'clock  that  night  he 
came  around  and  calmly  repudiated  the  bargain,  demand- 
ing better  terms.  We  ought  to  have  been  thankful  that 
his  impatience  to  get  the  better  of  us  had  prevented  his 
saving  this  bit  of  annoyance  until  the  last  moment  before 
starting.  As  it  was,  we  still  had  some  hours  of  night  to 
provide  ourselves. 

Across  the  street  from  the  schoolyard  was  a  family  which 
some  of  our  people  had  dubbed  "  The  Clean  Family."  Our 
butcher  lived  directly  in  front  of  us.  He  was  an  honest, 
burly  fellow  who  usually  wore  a  sheepskin  coat,  wool  side 
in.  He  had  been  a  friend  of  the  mission  inmates  for  many 
years  and  an  attendant  and  helper  in  the  mission  congrega- 
tion. To  the  north  of  us  were  some  Protestant  natives  who 
were  pleasant  neighbors,  and  across  the  street  from  them 
dwelt  some  English  women,  mission  workers,  who  gave  their 
time  to  works  of  mercy  among  the  women  of  near-by  Moslem 

198 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

villages.     We  were  to  become  much  indebted  to  them  for 
comfort  and  society. 

Just  south  of  the  Friends'  property  is  the  little  chapel  of 
the  Greek  Catholic  body  which  claims  a  few  people  of  Ram 
Allah,  and  just  south  of  that  runs  a  little  path,  through  the 
vineyards,  called  the  Tarik  el-Majnuny,  The  Road  of  the  Crazy 
One.  One  of  the  old  men  told  how  in  former  years  along  that 
road  the  oak  woods  were  so  thick  that  a  cat  could  not  pass, 
and  that  if  a  piece  of  bread  were  dropped  from  above,  the 
thickness  of  the  foliage  would  prevent  it  from  reaching  the 
ground.  This  is  interesting  as  pointing  to  traditions  and  to 
the  kind  of  figures  used  by  the  natives  in  descriptions. 

And  so  our  neighborly  resources  continued.  We  grate- 
fully acknowledge  that  the  best  lesson  that  we  learned  during 
our  intimate  acquaintance  with  the  village  community  was 
that,  joined  with  varying  accidents  of  speech,  dress  and 
advantages,  human  beings  are  much  alike  everywhere  and 
possess  many  admirable  traits. 

To  the  westward  of  R&m  Allah  there  begins  with  an  abrupt 
head  the  W&dy  Tarafidya,  which  runs  nearly  north  and 
south  and  leads  to  Wady  el-Kelb.  One  of  the  paths  to 
'Ayn  rArik  bends  around  it.  Just  under  this  path  to  the 
eastward,  between  it  and  the  wady,  is  a  little  spring,  €Ayn 
Tarafidya.  Most  of  the  land  hereabouts  has  been  purchased 
by  Ram  Allah  people  of  Baytunyeh,  the  latter  reserving  the 
spring  and  some  olive  land.  The  taxes  are  paid  through 
Baytunyeh.  Forty-two  feet  down  from  'Ayn  Tarafidya  is  a 
reservoir  with  thick,  heavy  stone  walls,  the  corners  being  at 
the  four  main  points  of  the  compass.  The  northeast  wall  is 
ninety-seven  inches  thick  and  the  northwest  wall  sixty-six 
inches  thick.  The  reservoir  is  nearly  forty  feet  square. 
The  southeast  wall  inside  is  forty  feet  long  and  the  northeast 
wall  lacks  three  inches  of  the  same  measurement.  There  is 
a  broken  descent  into  the  old  dry  pool  at  the  west  corner.  I 
was  here  on  a  soft,  gray  December  morning  when  the  sky 

199 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

was  hung  with  ready  clouds.  There  was  a  sweet  quiet  under 
the  olive-trees.  The  earth  was  red  beneath.  The  black  wet 
trunks  and  moss-covered  branches  showed  through  the  gray- 
green  mantle  of  the  trees  like  a  core  through  filigree.  On 
one  side  of  the  valley  the  steep  wet  cliffs  were  decked  with 
Christmas  green.  On  the  other  side  were  terraces  holding 
leafless  fig-trees  that  stretched  up  their  many  fingers  like 
candelabra  to  the  mist.  Down  through  the  valley  were  seen 
round,  stone  watch-towers  with  brush  tops.  Pink  daisies, 
narcissus,  the  little  white  and  lavender  crocuses  and  creepers 
were  already  showing.  In  the  tiny  scrub-oaks  were  twining 
green  leaves. 

Wady  el-Kelb  has  two  heads,  the  one  to  the  north 
being  called  Shayb  ed-Dars,  the  one  to  the  east  going  by 
the  name  Batn  el-Hawa.  Wady  el-Kelb  and  Khullet  el- 
'Adas  are  favorite  grounds  for  anemones  of  various  colors. 
Every  little  cut  or  crest  of  the  surface  hereabouts  has  its 
local  name  given  or  continued  by  the  peasants,  who  spend 
many  hours  in  these  orchards,  vineyards  and  pasture-grounds. 
The  next  depression  beyond  Batn  el-Howa  is  Wad  Karom 
Shuta,  which  rises  in  Karom  Shuta  and  between  the  two 
wadys  thrusts  out  the  little  headland  known  as  Kurnet 
Musa.  Above  the  Karom  Shuta  are  the  Karum  Senasil, 
named  from  the  terraces  that  characterize  the  piece  of 
vineyard  there. 

The  burj,  or  tower,  of  Ram  Allah  is  in  the  southeast  of 
the  village  near  the  very  high  house  that  is  so  prominent 
to  one  viewing  Ram  Allah  from  the  eastern  hills.  It  is  said 
that  here  was  the  former  stronghold,  and  that  under  the 
place  is  a  powerful  spring  called  'Ayn  el-Bur j.  The  property 
over  it  is  owned  by  Ab  ul-Baba,  of  the  tribe  of  Shakara,  who, 
when  he  built  there  three  or  four  years  ago,  found  a  good 
cemented  canal  coming  from  what  was  evidently  a  strong 
spring.  Over  the  canal  was  a  flat  stone  covering.  The 
owner  filled  in  the  place  at  night,  concealing  it  with  masonry 

200 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

for  fear  that  the  government,  if  aware  of  such  a  spring, 
might  open  it  to  the  public  and  he  receive  less  than  its  value 
or  nothing  at  all.  Here,  if  the  story  be  true,  is  the  treasure 
that  R&m  Allah  lacks  to  make  it  a  well-watered  village. 
This  'Ayn  el-Burj  is  said  to  be  the  source  of  the  water  that 
flows  into  the  reservoirs  near  the  property  of  the  United 
Greeks'  (Roman  Catholic)  Chapel. 

The  chief  fountains  about  Ram  Allah  are  known  as  'Ayn 
Misbah  (spring  of  the  lamp),  €Ayn  Minjid  (spring  of  help), 
'Ayn  Mizrab  (spring  of  the  conduit  or  channel)  and  'Ayn 
Umm  el-Kerzam.  The  spring  at  el-Bireh,  though  a  mile 
away,  is  in  frequent  use  by  Ram  Allah  people.  'Ayn  el- 
Kasr,  towards  Kefriyeh  and  three  miles  away,  is  almost  too 
far  to  be  reckoned  with  the  Ram  Allah  water  supply. 

One  October  afternoon  we  went  to  'Ayn  Minjid,  where 
there  is  a  well-like  structure  built  down  into  the  ground. 
The  little  trickling  stream  of  the  spring  at  that  time  was 
about  as  thick  as  the  tendril  of  a  grape-vine.  In  winter  the 
water  rises  high  up  in  the  well-like  reservoir.  A  child  of  the 
neighborhood  was  once  drowned  by  falling  into  it  over  the 
unprotected  edge  in  the  time  of  full  water.  Thence  we  went 
to  the  spring  of  €Ayn  Mizrab,  where  there  is  a  similar  well- 
like  place,  built  up  of  hewn  stone  and  cemented  on  the  inside, 
making  a  shaft,  with  the  spring  at  the  bottom.  This  spring 
was  even  weaker  than  'Ayn  Minjid.  There  was  a  tiny  de- 
pression in  one  side  of  the  bottom  which  held  a  little  water. 
Some  girls  were  trying  to  scrape  up  some  of  it  with  their 
skin-buckets.  The  well  was  fully  twelve  feet  deep.  The 
leather  bucket  was  let  down  by  a  rope.  The  top  of  the 
bucket  was  held  open  by  a  stick  stretched  across  its  mouth. 
There  was  hardly  a  basin  of  water  in  the  bottom  of  the  well, 
and  the  most  skilful  casting  of  the  bucket  could  gather  very 
little.  From  one  side  of  the  well  at  the  bottom  was  a  canal 
leading  out  into  some  vineyards.  To  'Ayn  Mizrab  the  women 
are  said  sometimes  to  bring  their  jars  at  midnight  and  set 

201 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

them  about  the  fountain,  the  first  one  placing  a  jar  thus 
claiming  the  right  to  draw  first  when  it  becomes  light 
enough.  If  the  moon  is  out  they  can  draw  water  in  the 
moonlight. 

When  we  first  reached  Ram  Allah  the  country  was  suffer- 
ing an  unusual  drought.  For  the  preceding  thirty  days,  dur- 
ing which  there  ought  to  have  fallen  some  of  the  heaviest 
showers  of  the  season,  there  had  been  no  rain.  The  natives 
were  praying  for  it.  The  country  looked  parched  and  brown 
at  the  time  when  it  is  usually  beautifully  decked  with 
flowers.  Food  prices  were  high  and  the  outlook  for  the  poor 
was  unpromising.  Shortly  after  we  arrived  a  short,  sharp 
shower  fell,  but  no  more  came  until  the  middle  of  May, 
when  the  unusual  again  happened  and  a  heavy  downpour 
shut  us  in  a  day  or  two.  We  had  some  cool,  blustering 
weather  at  a  time  when  the  hot  days  are  expected  and  the 
dry  season  well  begun.  In  times  of  such  strange  climatic 
anomalies  the  natives  think  they  see  portents  of  heavenly 
significance,  that  possibly  the  Messiah  may  be  returning. 
Rain  is  the  great  blessing  of  nature,  as  fondly  looked  for  as 
sunny  weather  is  with  us.1 

Slight  earthquakes  are  experienced  now  and  then  in 
Palestine.  A  severer  one  than  usual  came  in  the  early 
morning  of  March  30,  1903,  about  ten  minutes  before  one 
o'clock.  On  awakening  my  first  thought  was  that  people 
outside  were  trying  our  door  and  then  shaking  it  violently. 
Then  the  movement  seemed  to  possess  the  whole  room, 
as  if  some  mighty  force  were  rocking  it  strongly  and  per- 
sistently. The  bed  was  jostled.  It  was  this  persistent 
shaking,  with  the  continual  and  uniform  rattling  of  the 

1  In  the  Palestine  Exploration  Fund  Quarterly  for  July,  1906,  page 
163,  Dr.  E.  W.  G.  Masterman,  of  Jerusalem,  writes  of  unusual  weather 
in  May  preceding.  Speaking  of  a  severe  hail-storm  in  Urtas  and 
Bethlehem,  he  quotes  the  local  report  among  the  peasantry  which  was 
that  "each  hailstone  was  the  size  of  a  pigeon's  egg  and  had  St. 
George's  image  pictured  on  it." 

202 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

articles  on  the  wash-stand,  that  soon  brought  me  to  my 
senses  with  the  exclamation,  "  It's  an  earthquake."  Mrs. 
Grant  was  first  awakened  by  the  shaking  bedstead.  Her 
next  thought  was  that  the  house  walls  were  falling.  We 
both  felt  a  sense  of  nausea.  I  rose  and  lighted  the  candle. 
The  floor  was  well  sprinkled  with  fallen  whitewash  that 
had  cracked  off  from  the  plastering.  A  few  bottles  were 
tipped  over  in  the  room.  At  first  I  said  that  it  lasted 
a  minute,  but  shortly  after  I  reduced  my  estimate  to  ten 
seconds,  and  now  I  suppose  that  it  must  have  been  but  a 
third  of  that  duration.  The  rattling  on  our  wash-stand  was 
as  uniform  as  if  the  things  were  on  a  railroad-train.  It  was 
a  weird  and  unpleasant  though  tuneful  jar.  Mrs.  Grant  ran 
into  the  far  part  of  the  house,  where  were  the  dormitories  of 
the  Girls'  School,  and  found  the  girls  a  little  excited  but  not 
much  frightened.  Some  of  the  smaller  girls  wanted  to  know 
what  made  their  beds  shake  so.  One  girl  said  that  she 
thought  that  Jesus  had  come.  After  we  had  been  up  a 
while  we  heard  a  wall  falling  in  the  vineyards  to  the  south- 
west of  us.  In  the  Boys'  School  one  boy  tumbled  out  of 
bed.  The  teacher  had  taken  a  strong  dose  of  quinine  the 
night  before  and  accounted  thus  for  the  fact  that  he  slept 
pretty  soundly  and  was  awakened  only  when  the  flakes  of 
whitewash  from  the  ceiling  fell  on  his  face.  One  or  two 
boys  at  the  Boys'  School  and  one  girl  at  the  Girls'  School 
slept  right  through  it  all.  The  woman  cook  at  the  Boys' 
School  was  much  startled  and  began  to  cry  out  and  pray, 
"  My  Lord,  my  Lord,  there  is  no  other  but  thee  "  (Ya  rubby, 
yd  rubby,  mafish  ghayrak).1  Nikola,  the  man  on  the  place, 
who  slept  in  a  little  house  in  the  yard,  went  back  and  forth 
to  his  family  who  lived  in  the  village  to  assure  himself  that 
they  were  well.  One  stone  in  the  gable  end  of  the  house 
where  he  slept  was  tumbled  to  the  ground.  The  well-con- 

1  Compare  with  the  exclamation  of  this  Christian,  the  Moslem  attribu- 
tion of  uniqueness  to  God  in  the  well-known  formula. 

203 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

structed  Girls'  Training  Home  showed  cracks,  while  in  the 
poorly  built  Boys'  House,  the  roof,  flooring  and  walls  on  the 
long  south  side  were  cracked  the  entire  length.  Our  neighbor 
Ny land's  house  suffered  somewhat,  so  that  afterwards  he  felt 
it  necessary  to  bind  the  walls  with  iron  girders,  which  were  run 
through  the  house  and  clamped  on  the  outside  walls  at  the 
ends.  Other  effects  were  noticed  in  a  morning  walk  through 
the  village.  In  the  western  part  of  the  village  the  damage 
seemed  greater  than  in  the  central  or  eastern.  One  small 
house  on  the  east  and  several  on  the  west  side  had  lost  a  wall 
apiece.  These  were  the  so-called  skifeh  dwellings,  or  loosely 
constructed  stone  huts.  In  each  case  the  front  wall  had  fallen 
outward.  Quite  a  number  of  larger,  stronger  houses  were 
slightly  cracked  along  a  side  or  on  top.  One  house  wall 
bowed  out  threateningly.  In  one  fine  new  house,  not  quite 
completed,  there  were  laterally  running  cracks  on  the  two 
longer  sides  of  the  roof.  Word  was  brought  to  us  that  a 
man  in  Baytm  was  killed  by  a  falling  stone  from  a  house. 

A  large  party  of  Russian  pilgrims  on  their  way  up  through 
the  country,  who  had  been  quartered  in  the  village  the 
night  of  the  earthquake,  took  up  the  customary  march  to 
N£blus  soon  after.  They  always  start  northward  from  R&m 
Allah  before  light. 

The  dominant  religious  influence  in  Rdm  Allah  is  the 
Greek  (Orthodox)  Church.  It  is  customary  all  through  the 
near  East,  the  field  of  the  Greek  Church,  to  admit  to  the 
chief  ecclesiastical  positions  priests  of  Greek  blood  only.  The 
head  priest  of  the  Ram  Allah  Church  was  a  Cretan  who  had 
come  to  this  village  in  1899.  He  spoke  the  Arabic  language 
but  lamely.  He  was  very  affable  and  rather  good  looking. 
All  Greek  priests  wear  the  hair  long  though  they  knot  it  up 
for  convenience.  The  ordinary  dress  is  a  long  black  gown 
and  rimless,  cylindrical  black  hat.  When  we  called  on  the 
priest  he  conversed  courteously  and  treated  us  to  preserves 
and  coffee.  His  attendant  was  a  lad  from  the  Greek  islands 

204 


1 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

whom  he  also  used  as  his  censer  boy  at  church  functions. 
This  head  priest  goes  by  the  title  rats,  that  is,  head-one 
among  the  people.  He  is  unmarried,  as  are  all  the  superior 
clergy.  There  are  four  other  priests  for  the  church,  who  are 
natives  of  the  place,  speak  the  Arabic  language,  of  course, 
and  are  married.  The  title  for  such  a  priest  is  Khury. 
Whenever  there  is  such  a  one  in  a  family  of  Syrians  the 
entire  family  is  apt  to  adopt  the  word  Khury  as  a  family 
name.  The  names  of  the  four  khurys  of  the  R&m  Allah 
Greek  Church  during  my  acquaintance  with  the  village  were 
Hanna,  Ayub,  Kustandy  and  Salim.  These  under  priests 
have  most  of  the  intercourse  with  the  people,  intermeddle 
with  all  sorts  of  affairs,  like  any  native  villager,  and  are  a 
visible  bond  between  the  common  and  the  ecclesiastical  life 
of  the  village.  One  of  these  four,  who  is  reputed  to  be 
wealthy,  acts  as  a  sort  of  private  banker  in  his  parish,  lending 
money  about  at  the  enormous  rates  which  obtain  among  the 
peasants.  The  government  rate  is  nine  per  cent,  but  this 
legal  percentage  is  often  more  than  doubled  in  practise, 
while  for  small,  short-time  loans  the  charges  mount  to  huge 
proportions.  One  day  as  I  walked  out  into  the  village  I  saw 
this  khury  sitting  in  front  of  the  dispensary.  He  had  been 
consulting  the  physician  about  some  ailment  and  had  re- 
ceived the  advice  to  take  a  sitz  bath,  but  he  lacked  the  very 
important  aid  of  a  bath-tub.  He  applied  to  me,  as  he  saw 
me,  to  lend  him  a  bath-tub,  but  I  had  nothing  of  the  kind 
that  was  portable.  He  next  heard  that  I  was  buying  some 
articles  for  a  new  boarding-school  for  boys  and  suggested 
that  if  I  bought  some  of  the  large  copper  vessels  called 
tunjerehs,  one  of  the  variety  used  for  washing  clothes  would 
suit  his  purpose.  But  again  I  had  to  disappoint  him,  as  I 
told  him  I  was  just  then  short  of  money  and  decided  to  buy 
only  the  smaller  cooking  tunjerehs  at  present.  He  looked 
surprised  at  my  confession  of  temporary  poverty,  but  fol- 
lowed up  his  lead  affably  by  declaring  that  I  was  very  wel- 

205 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

come  to  come  to  his  bank.  It  was  some  minutes  before  I 
saw  the  line  of  thought  the  thrifty  fellow  was  following,  that 
I  should  borrow  money  of  him  (the  rate  was  then  about 
twenty  per  cent)  to  buy  bathing  facilities  which  he  might 
borrow  of  me.  This  will  help  to  illustrate  the  unembarrassed 
egotism  with  which  some  of  the  people  deal  with  one  after 
the  "  heads-I-win,  tails-you-lose  "  order.  They  are  as  un- 
imaginative as  children  in  setting  your  interests  at  naught 
and  complacently  securing  all  for  themselves.  And  they 
will  do  it  with  all  the  dramatical  touches  of  idealism  and  an 
unselfish  air. 

The  village  tradition  of  the  founding  of  Ram  Allah  is  told 
by  the  peasants  as  follows:  A  certain  Christian  shaykh  living 
in  Shobek,  down  towards  Wady  Musa,  became  the  father 
of  a  little  girl.  A  Moslem  shaykh,  visiting  the  father,  spoke 
in  a  complimentary  way  of  the  little  child  and  was  courte- 
ously answered,  as  in  all  cases  where  praise  is  bestowed  on 
any  possession,  whether  a  new  article  or  a  new  child,  the 
owner  or  father  usually  replying,  "  It  is  for  you."  So  in 
this  case  the  father  replied,  "  She  is  for  you,"  meaning,  of 
course,  nothing  by  it  except  the  usual  courtesies.  Years 
passed  by  and  the  little  baby  girl  became  an  attractive 
maiden,  when  the  Moslem  shaykh  came  and  claimed  her  for 
his  bride.  The  father  protested,  but  was  reminded  of  the 
visit  of  years  before  and  the  reply  of  the  father,  which  had 
been  taken  in  real  earnest  by  his  visitor.  Consternation  fell 
on  the  Christian  family  at  the  impending  fate  of  the  little 
daughter  claimed  by  a  Moslem.  They  would  rather  that  the 
girl  should  die  than  marry  thus,  but  they  were  in  no  con- 
dition to  resist  the  demand.  During  the  night  the  Christian 
shaykh  took  the  only  course  possible,  the  desperate  one  of 
flight  to  other  parts.  Accompanied  by  his  four  brothers  and 
their  families  he  fled.  No  members  of  the  large  family 
could  be  left  behind  lest  vengeance  should  be  executed  on 
them  for  the  disappointment.  They  journeyed  northward 

206 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

and  were  joined  by  certain  Moslems  who  also  had  reasons  for 
seeking  a  change  of  home.  The  two  parties  traveled  to- 
gether, probably  for  greater  safety.  They  all  came  into  the 
country  north  of  Jerusalem  and  the  Christians,  being 
blacksmiths,  chose  what  were  then  wooded  hills,  the  present 
site  of  Ram  Allah,  though  now  there  is  no  growth  to  evidence 
the  early  conditions.  The  Moslems  settled  about  el-Bireh. 
To-day  when  the  Bireh  people  laugh  at  Ram  Allah  people 
and  say,  "  Your  fathers  must  have  been  foolish  not  to  choose 
lands  near  the  good  Bireh  spring,  but  over  there  in  that 
thirsty  country,"  some  of  the  Ram  Allah  people  answer, 
"  Our  fathers  were  blacksmiths,  and  in  their  days  the  hills 
here  were  covered  with  woods  which  supplied  them  with 
charcoal."  To-day,  as  has  been  noted  elsewhere,  the  largest 
section  of  Ram  Allah's  people  is  called  the  Hadadeh,  that  is, 
"  the  blacksmiths." 

Another  version  of  the  story  has  it  that  the  Christians 
settled  at  el-Bireh  and  the  Moslems  at  Ram  Allah,  but 
because  the  Christians  were  blacksmiths  they  arranged  with 
the  Moslems  to  exchange  sites  since  there  was  so  much 
material  for  charcoal  around  Ram  Allah.  If  this  version 
could  be  credited  it  might  help  to  account  for  the  old  mosk 
in  Ram  Allah.1 

The  villagers  of  Ram  Allah  are  often  hard  workers.  Their 
hours  of  labor  are  from  sunup  to  sunset.  They  often  sing 
happily  while  they  are  digging  the  vineyards  in  lieu  of  plow- 
ing them  where  the  vines  are  close.  Twenty-five  cents  a  day 
is  fair  pay  for  unskilled  labor  of  this  sort,  though  for  skilled 
labor,  such  as  that  of  a  first-class  mason  and  builder,  the 
price  may  run  to  a  dollar,  or  a  little  over.  Women  and  boys 
work  hard  for  from  twelve  to  fifteen  cents  a  day.  From  four 
to  eight  dollars  a  month  secures  a  man  servant  who,  if  he 
is  a  clever  one,  will  do  countless  services  and  become  almost 
indispensable.  He  will  try  hard  to  meet  the  foreigners' 

Seepage  115. 
207 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

ideas  and  wishes  and  improve  in  his  ability  to  anticipate 
them. 

It  does  not  do  to  nag  and  annoy  the  native  helper  by  too 
close  and  nervous  application  of  Western  ideals  of  work, 
accuracy  and  punctuality,  for  one  gets  oneself  into  a  very 
unlovely  state  of  nervous  irritability  and  often  wears  out  a 
really  valuable  servant  by  unnecessary  trifles  of  supervision. 
The  peasant  is  used  to  a  certain  ease  and  generosity  of  judg- 
ment and  if  wisely  watched  will  accomplish  a  good  deal  of 
work  in  a  very  fair  way. 

One  fresh  from  Europe  or  America  is  tempted  to  super- 
cilious airs,  as  if  everything  native  to  the  country  were 
inferior  and  vastly  so.  But  a  longer  acquaintance  empha- 
sizes the  fact  that,  the  world  over,  our  virtues,  superiorities 
and  so  forth  are  put  on  in  spots  rather  than  in  a  consistent 
through  and  through  grain.  And  one  soon  finds  plenty  of 
occasion  in  Palestine  to  blush  for  occurrences  which  must 
make  a  sensible  native  think  us  a  very  unlikely  set  of  people 
to  be  receiving  so  many  gifts  from  a  kind  Providence.  The 
conditions  under  which  they  see  most  foreigners  persuade 
them  that  lack  of  money  does  not  exist  in  America  and 
possibly  that  it  is  not  very  common  in  Europe.  Then,  too, 
they  see  so  many  childless  married  couples,  these  naturally 
being  the  freest  to  travel,  or  to  undertake  missions,  that  the 
contradiction  of  this  apparent  curse  upon  us  mystifies  them. 
And  as  to  sanity  of  mind  and  clearness  of  religious  doctrine 
or  practise,  foreigners  in  Jerusalem  must  often  be  on  the 
defensive  in  order  to  keep  even  self-respect. 

El-Bireh,  with  its  eight  hundred  inhabitants,  lies  on  the 
southeast  side  of  a  curve  in  the  carriage  road,  fifteen  kilo- 
meters almost  due  north  from  Jerusalem.  From  it  Jeru- 
salem may  be  seen.  North  of  it  on  the  opposite  side  of  the 
carriage  road  is  an  unusually  prominent  watch-tower  by 
which  el-Bireh  can  be  located  from  afar.  Local  tradition 
says  that  Ibrahim  Basha  (Pasha)  camped  near  here.  The 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

people  of  el-Bireh  are  all  Moslems,  except  one  family  named 
Rafidya,  who  number  about  eighty  and  are  related  to  a 
household  of  the  same  name  in  Ram  All&h.  These  Rafidyas 
take  their  name  from  a  town  near  Nablus,  whence  they 
migrated  some  years  ago  when  their  lot  there  become  un- 
bearable. They  are  now  among  the  most  prosperous 
dwellers  in  the  village,  managing  the  large  new  khan,  the 
little  store  in  it  and  the  carriage  business  that  runs  a  service 
between  el-Bireh  and  Jerusalem  daily.  They  worship  in  the 
Greek  Church  in  Ram  Allah.  One  member  of  the  family  is 
being  trained  in  the  Greek  school  in  Jerusalem.  One  goes  by 
the  complimentary  business  epithet  of  esh-Shaytdn  (Satan), 
equivalent  to  clever.  This  family,  or  tribe,  dwell  in  the 
northern  part  of  the  village,  not  far  from  the  carriage  road. 
Their  khan  is  a  typical  country  caravanserai.  Thousands  of 
people  pass  it :  messengers  going  up  and  down  the  country, 
village  priests  or  teachers  going  to  Jerusalem  to  get  their 
monthly  pay,  sellers  and  buyers,  caravans  of  wheat  carriers 
from  the  Hauran,  tourists,  pilgrims,  missionaries,  mokaries, 
camping  outfits,  mounted  Turkish  soldiers  sent  to  some  vil- 
lage to  bring  in  offenders  wanted  by  the  Jerusalem  govern- 
ment or  to  collect  taxes. 

The  chief  pride  of  el-Bireh  is  the  copious  spring  of  ex- 
cellent water  at  the  southwest  of  the  village,  where  the 
carriage  road  begins  to  ascend  the  hill.  The  new  mudir  of 
the  district  in  1903  caused  some  improvements  in  masonry 
to  be  constructed  over  the  Bireh  fountain.  A  busy  scene  can 
often  be  observed  there.  Women  and  girls  come  and  go, 
chattering  and  scolding,  eager  for  the  first  turn  to  put  a  jar 
under  the  flow.  The  women  are  seen  washing  on  the  smooth 
stones  near  the  spring,  pounding  with  a  short  stout  club  the 
well-soaked  garments.  The  water  from  the  spring  at  its 
flood  and  the  rains  have  gullied  the  paths  hereabouts  and 
left  the  pebbles  like  hobnails,  so  that  to  walk  about  the  place 
is  like  using  the  stepping-stones  of  a  dry  brook. 

209 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

From  a  point  a  little  to  the  east  of  the  fountain  a  path  to 
the  right  (south)  leads  in  a  few  steps  under  a  picturesque 
little  ruin  in  stone,  the  inner  rim  of  an  arch  which  spans  the 
path  with  airy  grace.  Just  beyond  it  on  the  right  there  is  a 
long,  low  stone  building,  an  old  khan  in  good  preservation. 
There  are  ruins  all  about  under  the  trees.  Continuing  on 
the  left  after  a  turn  one  comes  to  an  immense  old  khan  in  ruin, 
of  which  four  sections  or  rooms  still  remain.  It  has  a  quad- 
ruple arched  roof  and  fine  columns.  Masons'  marks  are  to 
be  seen  on  some  of  the  heavy  old  stones  and  Arab  graffiti 
on  others.  Some  of  these  scratchings  are  very  good.  A 
horseman  lifting  a  long  spear  is  one  of  the  best.  This  great 
khan  would  still  shelter  several  scores  of  camels  and  their 
loads  if  inclement  weather  necessitated  a  resort  to  it. 

South  of  the  fountain  are  some  old  reservoirs  built  of  heavy 
stone  and  meant  to  treasure  up  the  overflowings  of  the  brook 
in  its  downward  course  through  the  valley  from  the  spring. 
Further  southward  of  these  reservoirs,  which  are  now  out  of 
repair,  one  goes  through  fig-orchards  towards  the  little 
Moslem  shrine  of  Shaykh  Salih,  around  about  which  one 
often  sees  numerous  little  piles  of  stones  on  the  tops  of  the 
stone  walls,  reminders  of  the  pious  and  their  petitions  to  the 
departed  shaykh  or  wily.  The  course  of  the  brook  from 
the  spring  continues  down  the  valley  to  Wad  es-Suwaynit 
and  thence,  by  the  way  of  the  Wady  Kelt,  to  the  Jordan. 

Along  the  sides  of  Jebel  Tawil,  the  long  ridge  to  the  south- 
east of  el-Btreh,  one  sees  the  walls  of  a  quarry,  whence  huge 
blocks  must  have  been  taken  long  ago,  as  the  smooth,  un- 
broken surface  remaining  measures  many  yards.  Northeast 
of  el-Bireh  the  hillsides  show  similar  quarrying. 

In  the  northern  part  of  the  village  is  the  ruin  of  a  Cru- 
saders' Church,  one  of  the  better  preserved  specimens  of  that 
kind  of  building  in  Palestine.  A  considerable  part  of  the 
east  end,  with  its  triple  apse  and  most  of  the  north  wall, 
though  this  latter  bulges  ominously,  are  still  standing.  The 

210 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

south  wall,  too,  is  pretty  well  preserved.  A  low  passage 
through  it  leads  to  the  site  where  the  old  convent  used  to  be, 
now  the  home  of  a  Moslem  boys'  school  taught  by  a  white 
turbaned  urbane  khatib.  Several  visitors  of  late  years 
searched  in  vain  for  an  inscription  that  M.  Clermont  Ganneau 
mentions  as  having  seen.  Among  the  ruins  of  the  church 
several  masons'  marks  of  the  crusading  style  may  be  see#i 
on  the  building  stone.  The  church  is  some  eight  centuries 
old.  The  cement  in  these  old  structures  is  exceedingly 
strong.  Though  the  north  wall  seems  in  such  imminent 
danger  of  falling,  the  earthquake  of  1903  did  not  accomplish 
its  overthrow.  Cows  and  donkeys  wander  about  the  weedy 
interior,  and  the  neighbors  spread  out  there  heaps  of  gath- 
ered dung  to  dry  for  fuel. 

There  are  many  signs  of  squalor  in  el-Bireh.  The  level  of 
the  floor  in  many  of  the  huts  is  below  the  threshold.  In 
fact,  a  large  number  of  the  houses,  excluding  those  of  the 
shaykhs  and  the  Christian  tribe  of  Rafidya,  are  of  the  very 
old  style  of  skifeh  dwellings,  a  few  of  which  were  mentioned 
in  describing  Ram  Allah,  the  style  of  buildings  made  with 
stones  bedded  in  earth,  or  at  best  held  together  by  poor 
mortar  and  having  dirt  roofs  supported  upon  heavy  boughs. 
The  village,  though  possessed  of  wide  lands,  a  good  situation 
on  the  traffic  route  of  the  country  and  the  best  spring  for 
many  miles  around,  compares  very  poorly  with  Ram  Allah, 
just  twenty  minutes  away  and  possessed  of  none  of  these 
advantages.  The  very  marked  superiority  of  the  Christian 
village  and  its  rapid  development  in  the  last  century  is  a 
matter  of  significant  observation.  A  study  of  the  house 
structure  already  suggested  in  the  two  villages  shows  the 
typical  development  of  village  building.  There  are  in  Ram 
Allah  some  of  the  skifeh-huts  of  the  same  style  and  age 
apparently  as  the  larger  number  of  that  kind  proportionately 
in  el-Bireh.  Others  of  this  same  order  were  pulled  down  long 
ago  in  Ram  Allah  and  replaced  by  houses  made  with  dressed 

211 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

stone  and  mortar  and  having  rolled  dirt  roofs,  similar  to 
some  of  the  better  grade  of  houses  in  el-Bireh  to-day.  But 
this  kind  is  already  counted  inferior  in  Ram  Allah,  where  the 
larger  number  of  dwellings  have  the  heavy,  arched,  dome 
roofs  of  stone,  of  which  there  are  but  few  in  el-Bireh.  An 
improvement  even  upon  these  is  gaining  ground  in  Ram 
Allah,  and  much  better  houses,  having  several  rooms, 
modern  window  openings  and  paved  floors  and  provided  in 
some  cases  with  cisterns  for  oil  or  water,  are  being  constructed 
by  the  wealthier  villagers.  The  development  of  several  cen- 
turies in  highland  peasant  homes  may  thus  be  traced.  A 
significant  change  in  the  interior  structure  is  the  doing  away 
of  the  elevated  living  platform  in  the  room  reached  by  stairs 
that  command  the  doorway. 


-^ii 


THE       PEASANTRY       OF       PALESTINE 


CHAPTER  X 

OTHER     VILLAGES    AND  ENVIRONS 

ABOUT  a  mile  northwest  of  Ram  Allah  on  the  Janyeh  road 
is  a  region  which  goes  by  the  name  of  et-Tireh,  a  name 
commonly  met  in  Syria.  There  is  a  question  as  to  what 
it  may  mean.  If  the  localities  thus  named  were  always,  as 
they  more  usually  are,  lofty  places,  the  suggestion  has  been 
made  that  et-Tireh  might  be  derived  from  the  root  meaning 
to  fly,  and  so  such  a  place  might  be  dubbed  The  Flyer,  in  the 
sense  of  a  high  place,  but  Prof.  E.  H.  Palmer  derives  the  name 
from  a  root  meaning  fort.1  At  this  et-Tireh  there  are  many 
remains  of  former  buildings,  the  central  one  being  the  Sala't 
et-Tireh,  the  ruin  of  a  Christian  church.  A  large  tract  of 
ground  including  it  has  been  walled  in  by  the  ecclesiastical 
owners.  The  oil  of  the  olive-trees  in  the  enclosure  is  said  to 
be  used  for  church  purposes.  The  remains  of  the  old  church 
are  very  scanty  compared  with  those  at  el-Bireh,  Burj 
Baytin,  et-Tayyibeh  or  even  at  Khurbet  el-Mokatir.  Some 
of  the  remaining  stones  have  been  reset  in  an  attempt  to 
restore  the  line  of  the  wall,  and  the  result  is  a  smaller  space 
enclosed  than  originally.  At  present  the  main  enclosure  is 
roughly  fifty-two  feet  long  by  twenty-six  feet  wide.  The 
line  of  the  apse  is  marked  by  one  course  of  stones  standing 
loosely  together.  Plenty  of  tiny  white  cubes,  remains  of 
tessellated  pavement,  are  scattered  around.  There  are  bases 
of  four  columns,  many  blocks  and  some  pieces  of  columns. 

Northeast  of  the  ruin  is  a  little  inclined  path  that  leads 
underground,  where  there  is  a  fine  old  olive-press.  It  is  of 

1  HT13 ,  see  preface  to  Arabic  and  English  Name  List  in  Palestine 
Exploration  Fund  Memoirs. 

213 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

the  kind  generally  used,  though  recently  some  screw-presses 
have  been  introduced  into  Ram  Allah. 

There  are  two  sorry-looking  fig-trees  in  the  grounds,  the 
fruit  of  which  is  said  to  be  free  to  all  comers.  Here  and 
there  in  the  country  these  traditionally  free  fruit-trees  are 
seen.  I  remember  one  on  the  valley  road  to  Bayt  *Ur  et- 
Tahta.  The  whole  property,  otherwise,  is  hardm,  that  is, 
sacrosanct.  The  dwellers  in  Palestine  have  a  very  vivid 
sense  of  that  ecclesiastical  or  religious  quality  that  attaches 
to  a  place  once  acknowledged  as  devoted  to  religious  purposes. 
Despite  all  encroachments,  persecutions  of  hostile  govern- 
ments or  religions,  the  mind  of  the  people  persists  in  return- 
ing again  and  again  to  the  subject  of  the  sacred  nature  of  any 
such  spot,  and  this  obstinate  tradition  sooner  or  later  gets 
that  piece  of  property  back  under  the  care  of  the  church. 
The  Ram  Allah  people  tell  a  story  which  illustrates  how  the 
powers  assist  in  preserving  devoted  things.  "  One  day  a 
man  was  digging  in  the  ground  when  his  pickaxe  (fass) 
struck  against  the  lid  of  a  copper  vessel  (tunjereh)  containing 
treasure,1  but  as  he  began  to  clear  away  the  soil  so  as  to 
come  at  the  find,  his  hands  became,  as  it  were,  bound  to- 
gether with  cords  and  his  feet  were  likewise  powerless." 

Out  beyond  the  enclosing  walls  of  the  Greek  property  are 
fine  olive-trees  and  many  heaps  of  old  building  stone,  with 
other  evidences  of  a  former  habitation  of  men.  The  land 
and  olives  west  of  the  Sala't  et-Tireh  are  owned  by  a  well-to-do 
Ram  Allah  family,  Dar  Abu  Firmand.  The  view  of  Ram 
Allah  from  this  place  is  very  good,  impressing  one  with  the 
fact  that  it  is  indeed  situated  on  a  rise  of  ground,  which 
effect  one  does  not  get  in  coming  to  it  from  the  higher  ground 
to  the  south  and  east  of  the  village.  A  vague  story  is  told 
of  a  former  prosperous  settlement  of  Christians  at  et-Tireh 
and  of  their  massacre. 

The  road  from  Ram  Allah  toward  the  northwest  runs  just 
1Matt.  13:44. 

214 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

under  one  of  the  walls  of  the  enclosure  at  Sala't  et-Tireh, 
having  that  wall  for  its  left-hand  boundary.  After  passing 
the  walled  grounds  thus  on  the  left  a  little  valley  begins, 
branching  off  from  the  main  path  and  running  down  to  the 
right.  It  is  called  the  Khullet  el-'Adas  and  in  the  late 
winter  is  well  filled  with  varicolored  anemones.  On  the 
right  side  of  the  valley,  up  in  the  terraces,  are  tombs,  five 
or  six  of  which  I  have  seen  and  three  of  which  I  have  meas- 
ured. The  first  one  is  the  farthest  from  the  path  that  runs 
down  into  the  Khulleh,  but  it  is  not  more  than  two  stones'- 
throw  from  the  nearest  corner  of  et-Tireh  enclosure.  About 
the  entrance  to  the  tomb  the  rock  has  been  scarped  to  a 
width  of  eight  feet  two  inches  and  to  a  height  of  five  feet. 
There  is  the  usual  low  entrance  to  the  tomb-chamber.  In 
this  case  the  doorway  is  about  two  feet  high.  It  is  eighteen 
inches  wide  and  is  bordered  with  a  cut  facing  five  inches 
wide.  The  inner  chamber,  ten  feet  wide  and  eight  feet 
eight  inches  deep,  has  five  vaulted  niches,  one  opposite  the 
chamber  entrance  and  two  on  each  side.  Just  within  the 
chamber,  at  the  right  of  the  entrance,  in  the  corner,  is 
a  tiny  niche,  like  those  in  a  columbarium,  probably  for  a 
lamp.  The  second  of  these  tombs  is  nearer  the  path,  a 
little  way  down  the  valley.  Its  door  measurements  are 
similar  to  those  given  for  number  one,  except  that  the  width 
is  one  inch  more.  The  inner  chamber  has  but  three  niches, 
each  one  with  rounded  top  as  before,  but  with  a  squared 
facing  at  the  entrance.  The  third  tomb  is  yet  nearer  the 
path.  The  facing,  cut  about  the  entrance  to  the  chamber, 
is  seven  inches  on  each  side.  The  width  of  the  entrance  is 
eighteen  inches.  In  the  chamber,  as  in  those  mentioned 
above,  there  are  three  vaulted  niches,  but  they  are  very 
high  and  considerably  deeper  than  in  tombs  numbers  one  and 
two.  The  remaining  tombs  mentioned  are  higher  up  the 
hillside  and  still  farther  away.  Numbers  two  and  three  of 
those  described  are  easily  seen  from  the  valley  path. 

215 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

The  little  village  of  'Ayn  'Arik,  about  an  hour  and  a  quarter 
north-of-west  of  Ram  Allah,  is  occupied  by  a  mixed  popula- 
tion of  Greek  Christians  and  Moslems.  The  situation  is  on 
the  side  of  a  very  fertile  valley  amply  supplied  with  water. 
Pomegranate  orchards  in  abundance,  gardens  and  a  few 
olive,  fig  and  lemon-trees  make  a  running  patch  of  green 
for  about  a  mile  down  the  valley.  Our  first  visit  to  the 
village  was  on  September  26  in  1901.  We  passed  on  the 
way  the  ruined  village  called  Kefr  Shiyan  or  Kefr  Shiyal. 
Probably  the  older  form  is  the  one  with  Z,  the  later  usage 
favoring  the  ending  in  n.  This  place  is  mentioned  by  Dr. 
J.  P.  Peters  in  the  Journal  of  Biblical  Literature  as  a  Byzan- 
tine ruin.  Some  of  the  'Ayn  'Arik  people  have  sufficient 
antiquarian  interest  to  try  to  make  out  that  this  ruin 
represents  ancient  Shiloh.  One  path  to  'Ayn  €Arik  goes  to 
the  right  of  Kefr  Shiyan  and  keeps  to  the  left  of  the  venerable 
tree  called  Abu  'Aynayn  (father  of  two  fountains),  which  is 
perched  on  a  hilltop.  Another  path  to  'Ayn  'Arik  goes  to 
the  left  of  Kefr  Shiy&n,  between  that  ruin  and  another 
smaller  ruin  on  an  opposite  hillside,  the  ruin  of  'Ayn  Soba. 
Down  this  path  we  have  seen  camels,  loaded  with  boxes  of 
raisins  from  Ra"m  Allah,  making  their  way  towards  Jaffa 
via  'Ayn  'Arik.  The  more  usual  route  to  Jaffa,  however, 
leaves  the  'Ayn  Soba  ruin  on  the  right  instead  of  on  the 
left,  as  we  do  now  in  going  on  down  to  'Ayn  'Arik.  Before 
reaching  this  latter  place  we  pass  a  spring  with  a  reservoir 
to  catch  its  overflow.  It  is  about  fifteen  minutes  this  side 
of  the  village,  in  the  valley,  near  the  beginning  of  the  olive- 
grove.  The  spring  and  place  about  are  called  Umm  el- 
Khuruk  (the  mother  of  rags).  From  here  to  the  village  the 
path  runs  through  olive  orchards.  The  pomegranate  or- 
chards begin  below  the  village.  The  other  springs  which 
may  be  said  to  be  at  or  near  'Ayn  'Arik  are : 

'Ayn  el-Jami'  (The  Spring  of  the  Mosk),  in  the  vil- 
lage; 

216 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

'Ayn  Ras  el-Bir  (The  Spring,  the  Head  of  the  Well),  near 
the  village; 

Ayn  esh-Shaykh  (The  Spring  of  the  Shaykh),  near  the 
village; 

'Ayn  et-Toreh,  near  the  village; 

'Ayn  el-'Azab,  ten  minutes  away  from  the  village; 

'Ayn  el-'Asfur  (The  Spring  of  the  Bird),  fifteen  minutes' 
distance. 

The  people  of  'Ayn  €Arik  are  greatly  favored  with  the 
natural  conditions  of  prosperity  and  ought  to  develop  con- 
siderably. The  most  helpful  influence  exerted  in  the  village 
is  that  of  the  day-school  for  children  maintained  as  an  out- 
station  of  the  Ram  Allah  Friends'  Mission  and  taught  by  one 
of  their  trained  native  women. 

From  el-Bireh  to  Baytin  (Bethel)  the  distance  is  about  two 
miles.  The  path  leaves  the  carriage  road  a  little  north  of  the 
former  village  and  strikes  off  to  the  right  through  a  small 
patch  of  boulders,  stirrup  high,  to  a  level  stretch  of  ground 
that  rises  a  little  as  one  comes  to  an  interesting  group  of 
remains  clustered  about  a  spring,  'Ayn  el-Kusa'.1  Some 
well-worn  rock-cut  steps  lead  up  to  a  rock-platform  seven 
or  eight  feet  above  and  alongside  the  bridle-path.  The 
spring  starts  from  the  hillside,  a  little  distance  away,  the 
outlet  being  artificially  improved  and  a  connection  made 
with  a  system  of  trenches  and  pan-shaped  hollows  cut  in 
different  places  over  the  top  of  the  rock  platform.  Down  by 
the  path-side,  under  this  platform,  is  a  rock-cut  chamber  or 
cave  with  two  heavy  supporting  columns  hewn  from  the 
rock.  The  water  system  above  is  connected  with  it.  All 
around  the  interior  walls  and  clustering  at  the  foot  of  the 
columns  are  beautiful  maidenhair  ferns  growing  out  of  the 
ooze  in  the  bottom  of  the  cave.  A  few  yards  farther  on  is 
another  smaller  cavelike  room  or  reservoir  which  was  never 
finished  or  connected  with  the  spring  and  chamber  above. 

1  See  page  17. 
217 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

Between  these  two  caves  there  is  a  connection  by  a  sort  of 
trough  cut  in  the  wall-side.  The  intention  may  have  been 
to  connect  the  two  caves  as  catch-reservoirs  with  a  lower 
cistern  or  pool.  This  latter  is  suggested  by  a  circular-shaped 
line  of  dressed  stone  in  the  very  path.  Many  have  asked 
what  it  was,  whether  a  former  pool,  the  top  of  a  cistern  or  a 
shallow  basin  trough.  The  path  must  once  have  avoided 
it,  though  it  now  stumbles  over  it.  Below  the  path  little 
gardens  catch  the  drainings  of  the  spring. 

A  few  rods  beyond  this  the  bridle-path  to  Dayr  Diwan 
and  Jericho  diverges  to  the  right  (east)  from  the  main 
caravan  road  to  Baytin  and  Nablus.  This  main  road  con- 
tinues to  the  'Ayn  el-'Akabeh  (The  Spring  of  the  Descent,  or, 
of  the  Steep  Place)  and  on  up  the  steep  path  to  the  top  of 
the  hill  before  Baytin  (Bethel).  There  are  small  gardens 
near  the  spring  and  a  few  old  tombs  in  the  vicinity.  The 
people  of  Baytin  are  Moslems.  They  are  apt  to  be  rude  to 
small  parties  of  foreigners.  Though  few,  about  half  as  many 
as  in  el-Bireh,  they  have  a  name  among  the  near-by  villages 
for  strength  and  fearlessness.  In  going  into  the  village  one 
passes  the  cemetery  and  the  large  ancient  pool.  North  of 
the  village  is  a  field  of  large  rocks  that  have  never  lacked 
notice  since  the  records  of  history  began.  Shortly  beyond 
the  big  rocks,  which  lie  in  the  road  to  Nablus,  a  branching 
path  takes  one  towards  et-Tayyibeh,  seen  at  good  advantage 
from  this  fork  in  the  paths  on  a  prominent  hill  a  little  north 
of  east.  Due  east  from  Baytin  is  Burj  Baytin,  five  minutes 
away,  a  picturesque  ruin  among  some  fig-trees. 

From  Burj  Baytin  we  may  bear  to  the  right  to  Dayr 
Diw&n,  going  through  the  extensive  fig-orchards  of  the  latter 
or  take  a  straighter  road  which  leads  one  by  a  very  rocky  hill 
Tell  el-Hajar  (right)  and  another  (left)  that  looks  like  a 
rampart  of  pebble  with  flattened  top,  called  et-Tell  and 
identified  by  some  with  ancient  Ai.  West  of  Dayr  Diwan 
are  a  lot  of  boulders  with  flat  table  tops  that  would  be  the 

218 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

delight  of  picnickers  desirous  of  a  place  to  spread  a  cloth. 
The  distinguishing  thing  about  the  appearance  of  Dayr 
Diwan  is  that  the  houses  stand  quite  apart  from  each  other, 
one  story  high,  each  with  its  own  little  space  about  it. 
The  entrance  to  the  village  from  the  west  is  a  little  pre- 
carious for  horses  because  of  the  slippery  rock  surface  that 
abounds.  The  people  of  the  place  are  Moslems.  They  are 
quiet  folk.  A  while  ago  a  Ram  Allah  man  (Christian)  kept 
a  grocery  shop  in  the  village. 

From  Jifna  to  et-Tayyibeh  the  way  leads  by  Durah  and 
through  'Ayn  Yebrud.  Part  of  the  route  is  low  and  hot,  so 
that  the  natives  have  dubbed  it  the  Ghor.  Durah  is  a  small, 
healthfully  located  Moslem  village.  Its  inhabitants  have  a 
good  reputation  for  peaceful  relations  with  the  Jifna  Chris- 
tians. The  Durah  people  raise  many  vegetables.  A  little 
beyond  Durah  the  path  goes  by  the  sacred  oak-trees,  Umm 
Barakat.  Here  one  turns  to  the  left  (north), —  in  the  dis- 
tance are  the  brown  cliffs  and  cave  holes  of  the  Wady 
Khulleh;  also  the  village  of  fAyn  Sinya,  —  then  up  a  steep 
hill  path  to  'Ayn  Yebrud  (a  Moslem  village)  and  past  the 
little  mosk  and  more  big  ballut  (oak)  trees  to  the  Nablus- 
Jerusalem  road. 

From  the  south  side  of  the  village  'Ayn  Yebrud,  near  its 
spring,  there  is  a  way  through  the  Wady  'Arak  el-Kharuf 
(Valley  of  the  Sheep  Rocks)  which  comes  out  on  the  Bireh- 
Baytin  path  just  a  little  southwest  of  the  pillared  cave  men- 
tioned on  page  217.  The  end  of  the  valley  nearer  'Ayn 
Yebrud  has  ancient  tombs.  The  deepest  part  of  the  valley 
is  bordered  with  pinnacled  cliffs.  Where  the  way  broadens 
out  toward  the  south  we  once  saw  a  mile  of  dhurah  (millet) 
under  cultivation.  Thence  the  path  leads  over  a  little  table- 
land to  the  road  from  el-Bireh. 

As  we  proceed  easterly  from  'Ayn  Yebrud  across  the  Nablus 
road  we  go  through  a  very  stony,  sunken,  basin-like  piece  of 
ground  called  Wastiyeh,  between  the  stones  of  which  some 

219 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

rich  soil  seems  to  lie.  The  path  through  here  may  be  easily 
lost.  There  are  some  old  cisterns  along  the  way.  Into 
the  big  one  north  of  the  path  they  say  that  a  murdered 
man  was  once  thrown,  and  so  a  fear  has  been  cast  over 
the  neighborhood.  Beyond  the  Wastiyeh  the  road  goes 
across  the  Wady  Sha'b  el-Kassis.  Thereafter  one  is  soon 
at  et-Tayyibeh. 

The  path  from  Dayr  Diwan  to  et-Tayyibeh  takes  one  out 
through  the  northeast  part  of  the  former  village  and  then  in 
about  ten  minutes  to  one  of  the  sheerest  descents  attempted 
by  a  Palestinian  bridle-path.  It  zigzags  down  into  a  deep 
valley,  faced  by  Wady  el-'Ayn,  which  leads  up  towards  et- 
Tayyibeh,  and  is  crossed  (left  to  right)  by  the  long  w&dy  that 
comes  down  from  the  north  of  Baytm  and  extends  towards 
the  Gh6r  (Jordan  and  Dead  Sea  region).  Going  up  or  down 
this  steep  hill  one  usually  prefers  to  walk,  seeing  to  it  that 
one's  animal  takes  no  unnecessary  risks,  for  there  are  many 
little  deviations  from  the  plainer  path  which  a  donkey  may 
attempt  but  a  horse  had  better  leave  untried.  The  natives 
sometimes  help  a  loaded  donkey  going  down  such  paths  as 
this  by  holding  on  to  the  animal's  tail  and  allowing  it  to 
balance  itself  by  the  help  of  the  caudal  tug.  But  beware  of 
offering  such  help  to  Palestine  mules.  I  believe  they  could 
kick  at  any  angle. 

Once  at  the  bottom  of  this  hill  one  goes  right  on  up  the 
valley  facing  northward,  past  the  little  spring,  crossing  the 
brook  bed  again  and  again  to  keep  the  path.  There  is  one 
corner  where  one  had  better  walk  if  on  a  horse  which  is  afraid 
of  smooth  rock.  Sometimes  this  part  of  the  valley  is  called 
Wad  ed-Dab'a  (the  valley  of  the  hyena).  Half-way  up  the 
valley  there  joins  it  on  the  left  (west)  another  valley,  with  a 
path  which  is  the  more  usual  one  from  Ram  Alldh  or  Baytin 
to  et-Tayyibeh,  and  which  may  be  used  in  returning.  Just 
at  the  junction  of  these  valleys  we  saw  once  on  the  hillside 
four  gazels  together.  On  up  the  valley  to  its  head  one  goes 

220 


VINEYARDS    AND    STONE    WATCH    TOWERS 


PEASANT    PLOWING 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

under  some  sheer  straight  cliffs.     Arrived  at  the  head  of  the 
valley,  et-Tayyibeh  is  at  the  right. 

The  Christian  village  of  et-Tayyibeh,  three  hours  north- 
east of  Ram  All&h,  is  perhaps  a  little  less  than  half  the  size 
of  R£m  Allah  but  exhibits  similar  marks  of  advantage  over 
its  Moslem  neighbors.  The  village  is  on  the  back  (east)  of 
the  central  ridge  of  Palestine  and  its  lands  slope,  in  conse- 
quence, towards  the  warm  regions  of  the  Ghor.  This  situa- 
tion also  tends  to  place  it  on  the  frontier  between  the  hill 
villages  and  the  Bedawin  tribes.  The  people  are  a  jaunty, 
fine-looking  set.  The  men  wear  the  Bedawin  head-dress  and, 
in  general,  the  population  seems  to  combine  some  character- 
istics and  manners  of  both  the  nomads  and  villagers.  Robin- 
son visited  et-Tayyibeh  in  1838.  The  population  was  then 
between  three  and  four  hundred  souls  belonging  to  the  Greek 
Orthodox  Church.  It  has  probably  increased  fourfold  since 
his  day  and  the  allegiance  of  part  of  the  people  is  now  given 
to  the  Roman  Catholic  faith.  The  English  Church  Mission 
holds  Sunday  services  and  maintains  a  day-school  for  boys. 
The  RaMn  All&h  Friends'  Mission  sustains  a  day-school  for 
girls. 

After  Dr.  Robinson's  visit  to  the  village  he  met  some  of  the 
inhabitants  with  their  wives  and  children  and  their  priest 
down  in  the  Ghor  near  Jericho,  where  they  were  gathering 
in  the  wheat-harvest  on  shares  with  the  inhabitants  of  the 
low  country.  The  Tayyibeh  people  had  sown  the  crop  as 
partners  of  the  Jericho  folk.  The  custom  then  mentioned 
continues  to  this  day.  Every  year  large  numbers  of  the 
villagers  of  et-Tayyibeh  go  down  into  the  Ghor  and  work  the 
fertile  lands  on  shares  with  the  lowlanders.  Some  of  them 
even  penetrate  the  east-Jordan  country  and  make  similar 
arrangements  with  the  nearer  Bedawin.  I  have  in  mind  one 
family  from  et-Tayyibeh  that  goes  on  this  business  as  far  as 
'Amman,  Jerash  and  es-Salt. 

The  views  from  et-Tayyibeh  are  extensive.    The  east- 

221 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

Jordan  hills  confront  one  there.  On  the  south  is  the  little 
Moslem  hamlet  Rammun  (Rimmon)  and,  far  away,  Frank 
Mountain.  A  sweep  of  olive-trees  to  the  southeast  leads 
the  eye  on  down  to  the  Dead  Sea,  which  shines,  when  the 
air  is  clear,  like  silver.  Often  a  haze  disguises  it.  Hard 
desert  hills,  hot  and  bare,  fall  away  to  the  east  towards  the 
Jordan. 

The  tendency  to  perch  villages  on  hills  had  full  effect  in 
the  placing  of  et-Tayyibeh,  for  it  has  one  of  the  most  pictur- 
esque of  the  many  hill  sites.  It  is  easily  seen  from  the  roads 
north  of  Jerusalem.  In  times  of  country  feuds  an  enemy 
would  have  to  fight  the  entire  village  at  once,  so  compactly 
are  the  houses  coned  over  the  hilltop  and  so  narrow  are  the 
streets.  The  finest  possible  watch-tower  is  provided  by  the 
old  castle  on  the  summit.  The  village  has  its  cisterns  within 
itself,  where  the  rain-water  from  the  roofs  is  caught.  Of 
course,  whenever  feasible,  spring- water  is  brought  from  a 
distance  for  drinking.  The  winds  are  sometimes  very  strong 
in  this  region  and  in  summer  there  is  very  little  defense 
against  the  beating  rays  of  the  sun. 

Jifna  (Gophna),  about  an  hour  and  a  half  north  of  Ram 
Allah,  is  a  Christian  village  of  about  six  hundred  people. 
The  place  is  full  of  evidences  of  ancient  structures,  old 
dressed  stones,  columns,  rosettes  and  carving.  The  locality 
is  fertile  and  orchards  and  vineyards  are  cultivated.  The 
vinedressers  here  stake  up  the  grape-vines,  contrary  to  the 
general  fashion  in  Palestine.  There  are  day-school  privileges 
provided  by  the  Friends  for  girls,  and  by  the  English  Church 
Mission  for  boys. 

The  path  from  Ram  Allah  to  Jifn&  goes  near  the  wily 
Shaykh  Ydsuf  and  past  the  little  Moslem  village  of  Surdeh 
(Zereda),  where  there  is  a  large  sacred  tree.  In  the  hill 
south  of  Shaykh  Yusuf ,  within  a  few  feet  of  the  path  through 
the  olive-trees,  is  a  large  ancient  tomb,  the  vestibule  being 
thirteen  and  a  half  feet  wide  by  nine  and  three-quarters  deep 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

and  six  feet  high.  The  door  leading  from  the  back  of  the 
vestibule  into  the  tomb-chamber  measures  five  feet  six 
inches  in  width  and,  so  far  as  visible,  measures  five  feet  high. 
It  is  choked  with  earth.  The  view  of  the  valley  filled  with 
olive-trees  as  it  falls  toward  the  Mediterranean  is  very 
pleasant. 

The  tiny  Moslem  village  of  'Ayn  Sinya"  is  about  a  mile  due 
north  from  Jifna.  It  will  be  well  served  by  the  new  carriage 
road,  which  sweeps  around  here  in  one  of  the  prettiest 
stretches  on  the  route.  Indeed,  the  section  from  the  hills 
above  Jifn&  to  €Ayn  Sinya  is  one  of  the  pleasantest  which  the 
new  Jerusalem-Nablus  road  provides.  The  village  of  *Ayn 
Sinya  is  practically  the  property  of  an  influential  native 
official  in  Jerusalem.  It  is  said  that  his  influence  prevailed 
to  have  the  carriage  road  constructed  this  way,  north  from 
el-Bireh,  instead  of  by  the  more  usual  tourist  route  via 
Bethel  and  €Ayn  Yebrud.  There  is  consolation  in  the  thought 
that  the  ancient  Bethel  country  is  left  to  be  reached  by  the 
ancient  paths  and  its  modernizing  may  be  delayed  a  century 
more,  so  far  as  roads  are  concerned.  'Ayn  Siny&  is  a  nat- 
ural garden  spot.  Mulberry  and  walnut-trees  are  plentiful 
about  it.  Its  natural  advantages,  reenforced  by  the  govern- 
ment road,  may  now  be  more  fully  developed  than  in  the 
past. 

In  the  country  near  Jifn£  and  Bir  ez-Zayt  are  quite  a  num- 
ber of  old  tombs.  One  leaves  Jifna  on  the  right  in  going  to 
Bir  ez-Zayt.  The  two  places  are  near,  and  in  plain  sight  of 
each  other.  There  is  a  small  community  of  Moslems  in  Bir 
ez-Zayt,  but  most  of  its  people  are  Christians.  The  English 
Church  Mission  is  represented  by  a  good  work,  a  boarding- 
school  for  girls  and  a  church  whose  congregation  has  a  native 
Protestant  pastor.  The  ruins  on  top  of  a  high  hill  to  the 
west  of  the  modern  village  are  supposed  to  be  those  of  old 
Btr  ez-Zayt.  The  olive-trees  of  the  village  are  very  fine  and, 
what  is  more  rare,  pear  trees  of  considerable  size,  in  the 

223 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

season  so  loaded  with  blossoms  as  to  look  like  huge  bouquets, 
are  to  be  seen  north  of  the  place. 

Two  hours  and  a  half  northwest  of  Blr  ez-Zayt  is  the  little 
village  of  'Abud,  with  four  hundred  Christians  and  three 
hundred  Moslems.  The  English  Church  Mission  sustains 
work  there.  The  road  thither  passes  the  tiny  hamlet  of 
Umm  Suffah,  the  houses  of  which  seem  to  be  made  with  a 
core  of  tiny  stones  and  cement,  faced  with  larger  stones. 
The  ruin  Khurbet  Jibya  is  near  by.  The  road  then  passes 
near  Neby  Salih,  where  it  enters  the  little  Wady  Rayya, 
following  which  one  comes  to  the  tombs  of  Tibneh  within 
forty  minutes  of  'Abud. 

Northwest  of  'Abud  is  a  place  called  Mukat'a,  evidently 
an  old  quarry,  the  working  of  which  had  disturbed  a  still 
older  cemetery  of  rock-cut  tombs,  some  of  them  painted. 
The  carving  in  some  of  these  is  elaborate.  One  tomb,  with  a 
vestibule  twenty-one  and  three-quarters  feet  wide  and  ten 
feet  deep  is  ornamented  at  the  top  with  a  grape  cluster  sus- 
pended between  two  wreaths.  Another  vestibule  twenty-six 
feet  two  inches  wide  shows  gate  sockets  on  each  side.  This 
vestibule  served  two  tomb-chambers,  one  directly  in  front 
as  one  enters  and  the  other  in  the  right  wall.  The  entrance 
to  the  former  has  been  crushed  open,  leaving  a  large  irregular 
hole.  Within  are  nine  full-sized  kokim  with  smaller,  shallow 
cuttings  in  the  tier  above  them  which  looked  like  embryo 
kokim.  The  right-hand  tomb-chamber  has  three  kokim  on 
the  left  side  and  three  opposite  the  entrance,  one  of  the  latter 
having  been  broken  or  cut  through  to  the  daylight,  probably 
in  the  process  of  quarrying  from  the  other  side.  This  smaller 
tomb  shows  a  fresco  in  black  and  red  and  perhaps  yellow 
paint.  The  design  is  in  large,  diamond-shaped  figures,  with 
a  rope  border  over  it.  There  are  many  scratchings  on  the 
walls. 


THE       PEASANTRY       OF       PALESTINE 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE   VILLAGE   AND   THE    OUTSIDE    WORLD 

As  one  becomes  acquainted  with  Palestine  life  to-day  one 
is  impressed  with  the  submissive  attitude  of  the  villagers 
towards  the  city  dwellers,  especially  towards  the  Moslem 
official  class,  the  effendiyeh.  But  we  are  assured  by  those 
within  whose  lifetime  the  period  falls,  that  half  a  century  or 
more  ago  things  were  not  so  well  ordered  as  now.  For  some 
years  before  that  time,  according  to  veracious  writers,  there 
was  a  state  of  internal  turbulence  in  which  the  fellahin  were 
often  in  the  ascendency  and  the  city  people  glad  to  treat  with 
them.  In  those  days  the  walls  of  Jerusalem  were  of  practical 
use  in  resisting  the  power  of  the  country  folk.  Two  great 
parties  divided  the  allegiance  of  the  villages.  They  were 
called  Yemen  and  Kays.  Headed  by  shaykhs  and  aided  by 
Bedawin,  these  partisan  villages  waged  feuds  and  rendered 
commerce  and  travel  precarious  or  impossible.  Abu  Ghosh 
and  his  sons  from  their  vantage  of  Kuryet  el-'Anab  held 
much  of  the  country  in  terror  of  his  raids.1  He  levied  toll 
on  travelers  and  was  too  powerful  to  be  curbed  by  the 
government,  such  as  it  was,  at  Jerusalem.  'Abd  er-Rahman 
and  other  shaykhs  held  certain  districts.  The  troops  were 
few  and  the  Turkish  hold  on  the  country  weak.  The  prov- 
ince came  near  to  a  condition  of  anarchy.  Every  man  did 
that  which  was  right  in  his  own  eyes.2  To  this  day  any 
intelligent  peasant  will  tell  the  inquirer  which  of  the  villages 
are  of  the  Yemeny  and  which  of  the  Kaysy  party.  The  lines 
of  division  are  still  plain  though  the  feuds  are  dormant. 
The  Turkish  government  has  strengthened  its  position  in  the 
interior  affairs  of  Palestine  steadily  for  forty  or  fifty  years 

»C/.  Judges  5:  6,  7.  JC/.  Judges  21:  25. 

225 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

back.  To-day  there  is  not  a  murmur  that  avails  nor  the 
disposition  to  antagonize  the  centralizing  authority  of  the 
ruler.  Even  the  east- Jordan  country  appears  to  be  growing 
tame.  Within  a  few  years  a  firmer  hold  on  the  village  situa- 
tion has  been  taken  by  the  establishment  of  extra  mudir- 
ships,  so  that  instead  of  governing  the  village  districts  from 
Jerusalem  and  other  large  centers  by  a  squad  of  soldiers  sent 
out  occasionally  to  do  police  duty  or  to  bring  in  taxes,  now 
a  local  official  called  a  mudir  is  placed  in  the  most  important 
village  of  a  small  district.  He  is  a  subordinate  of  the  gov- 
ernor, mutesarrif,  of  Jerusalem.  By  the  appointment  of  such 
as  he  a  closer  observation  and  administration  are  secured. 
At  Ram  Allah  in  1903  a  mudir  was  appointed  to  have  charge 
in  that  and  a  score  of  other  villages  in  a  district  thereabouts. 
Jerusalem  is  still  the  head  of  those  villages,  but  a  compacter 
administration  is  effected. 

To  the  country  peasant  the  chief  functions  of  the  govern- 
ment seem  to  be  those  of  restriction  and  oppression.  The 
fear  of  imprisonment,  fines  and  confiscations  keeps  the  peas- 
ants down.  The  imprisonment  of  a  peasant  leaves  no  taint 
of  dishonor,  having  as  purely  unfortunate  an  aspect  as  con- 
finement in  a  hospital.  There  is  no  such  thing  as  successful 
complaint  unless  it  can  assume  such  influence  as  would 
procure  the  removal  of  the  official  involved.  The  peasants 
look  suspiciously  on  every  movement  of  every  officer,  refus- 
ing to  believe  that  any  government  representative  can  have 
good  intentions  or  do  worthy  actions.  Government  pro- 
visions or  improvements  are  looked  upon  as  gloves  for  the 
hand  that  is  stretched  out  for  more  of  the  means  of  the  vil- 
lager. The  taxes  are  farmed  out  to  tax-collectors  whose 
approach  is  dreaded  extremely.1  Every  dozen  years  or  so  a 
new  schedule  of  valuation  is  made  by  the  assessors,  who 
travel  about  the  country  revaluing  businesses  and  proper- 
ties. Their  progress  from  village  to  village  is  the  signal  for 

1C/.  Luke  19:2,8. 
226 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

feasting,  treating  and  bribing.  The  cost  of  the  many  at- 
tempts to  persuade  these  assessors  to  reduce  valuations  or 
readjust  them  in  favor  of  the  briber  must  be  considerable. 
There  is  a  possibility  that  all  such  attempts  may  be  defeated 
by  the  revision  of  the  entire  list  at  headquarters.  The  visits 
of  the  soldiers  to  a  village  are  always  occasions  of  dread,  and 
much  relief  is  felt  when  they  leave.  On  the  frontiers  and  in 
out-of-the-way  places,  where  the  task  of  the  government  is 
less  easy,  a  more  conciliatory  spirit  is  shown.  In  the  Ghor, 
for  instance,  the  tax  may  be  paid  in  kind,  and  this  always 
makes  it  easier  than  the  practise  into  which  the  collectors 
have  fallen  with  the  villages.  They  drop  in  upon  the  vil- 
lagers at  odd  times  through  the  year,  long  after  the  crop  is 
out  of  the  way,  and  demand  money  payment  in  cash.  This 
helps  to  make  the  fortunes  of  the  local  money  lenders,  but  it 
causes  a  double  damage  to  the  peasants,  who  are  forced  to 
sacrifice  their  stores  for  low  prices  in  ready  money,  or  to 
mortgage  their  crop  expectations  for  the  coming  season.1 
At  Bir  es-Seba*  and  all  such  places  where  the  government  is 
seeking  to  strengthen  its  hold  upon  a  district,  the  early  steps 
are  taken  courteously  and  softly  and  the  later  with  a  nailed 
heel.  At  points  east  of  the  Jordan,  where  the  problem  of 
every  government  that  ever  sought  to  control  the  country 
has  been  to  withstand,  and  finally  to  render  impossible,  the 
raids  of  the  desert  tribes  of  nomads,  the  present  government 
is  slowly  reclaiming  the  country  to  authority.  In  some 
places  colonies  of  Circassians  have  been  introduced  as  buffers 
on  the  frontiers. 

The  tendency  among  the  villagers  is  to  settle  their  dis- 
putes so  far  as  possible  without  resort  to  the  government. 
If  quarreling  arises  and  the  government  gets  information  of 
it,  soldiers  are  sent  out  to  investigate  and  compel  order,  and 
incidentally  to  secure  as  much  money  as  possible.  To  avoid 
these  dreaded  quarterings  of  soldiers  on  themselves,  and  to 


lNeh.5:4. 

227 


THE       PEASANTRY       OF       PALESTINE 

escape  the  money-making  ingenuity  of  city  officials,  who 
seem  to  welcome  quarrels  and  litigation  for  the  profit  ensu- 
ing, the  disagreements  and  even  bitterer  issues  may  be  sub- 
mitted to  councils  of  neighbors.  Sometimes  eight  or  ten 
men  from  a  village  will  be  asked  to  act  as  arbitrators  in  the 
quarrel  of  another  village.  We  know  of  one  such  case  where 
a  quarrel  of  some  years'  standing  was  settled  by  the  assistance 
of  men  from  another  village.  The  case  had  been  complicated 
by  the  heavy  claim  for  damages  put  in  by  a  man  whose 
finger  had  been  shot  off  by  his  enemy.  Very  often,  even 
after  the  government  has  apparently  settled  a  case,  the 
parties  concerned  will  come  to  an  additional  settlement, 
through  their  representatives  and  friends,  to  wipe  out  all  old 
scores  and  the  sense  of  personal  resentment.  Sheep,  rice, 
semen,  garments  and  such  country  articles  are  used  as 
presents  back  and  forth  until  good-will  and  satisfaction  seem 
established  by  mutual  consent. 

The  attitude  of  the  local  government  to  the  people  may  be 
gathered  from  the  following  incident.  A  R&m  Allah  man, 
going  back  to  his  village  from  Jerusalem,  was  entrusted  by  a 
friend  in  the  city  with  the  sum  of  four  napoleons,  partly  in 
gold  and  partly  in  change,  to  be  taken  to  Ram  Allah.  The 
man  put  the  money  in  a  handkerchief,  knotted  it  up  and 
tucked  it  into  the  bosom  of  his  dress.  It  slipped  out  and 
fell  to  the  ground  without  his  knowledge.  A  woman  from 
Silw&n  picked  it  up,  but  was  noticed  by  a  Jew,  who  demanded 
it,  asserting  that  it  was  his.  Then  a  third,  who  was  passing, 
put  in  a  claim  for  the  money.  An  officer  coming  upon  the 
party,  seized  the  handkerchief  with  the  money,  saying  that 
he  would  have  the  public  crier  announce  the  find.  The  man 
who  had  lost  the  money  did  not  notice  his  loss  until  the  after- 
noon. He  went  to  the  Serai  to  claim  it.  He  described  the 
handkerchief,  the  gold  pieces  and  the  small  change,  but  the 
officer  denied  the  accuracy  of  the  description.  The  man 
begged  to  be  allowed  to  see  the  find,  declaring  that  if  every- 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

thing  did  not  agree  with  the  description  already  offered  the 
money  was  not  his.  The  officer,  thus  pressed,  said,  "  Look 
here,  no  money  goes  out  of  the  Serai  when  it  once  gets  in," 
and  turned  the  peasant  away.  The  loser  made  an  outcry  and 
sought  the  help  of  one  of  his  village's  shaykhs  who  happened 
to  be  in  the  city.  The  poor  have  very  scanty  legal  resources, 
but  they  have  an  almost  preternatural  persistence  and  a 
genius  for  making  themselves  disagreeable.  Witnesses  of  the 
finding  were  brought  and  other  measures  taken,  despite  re- 
peated rebuffs.  Finally  the  officer  of  the  Serai  acknowl- 
edged having  the  man's  money  and  gave  him  a  receipt  for 
four  napoleons  which  could  be  presented  in  lieu  of  payment 
of  future  taxes  to  that  amount.  Further  satisfaction  it  was 
impossible  to  obtain. 

Those  who  ought  to  know  claim  that  the  body  of  Turkish 
law  is  excellent  and  that  impartial  administration  of  it 
would  be  all  that  could  be  asked.  But  administration  is 
lamed  by  the  refusal  of  the  courts  to  recognize  in  any  prac- 
tical way  the  testimony  of  those  who  are  not  Moslems  and, 
among  the  Moslems,  of  those  who  are  not  rich.  The  court 
performs  merely  a  formal  function,  the  cases  being  deter- 
mined in  most  illegal  ways.  No  case  is  taken  to  court  when 
there  is  any  possible  way  of  keeping  it  out  and  settling  it. 
If  a  case  must  come  up  in  court  one  seeks  out  among  the 
influential  official  class  of  the  city  the  most  powerful  help 
he  can  afford  to  pay  for  and  forestalls  his  opponent,  if  possi- 
ble, the  court  being  a  mere  incident  in  the  problem.  Does  a 
squabble  take  place  in  a  village  and  is  some  one  injured  with 
an  ever-ready  stone?  The  families  of  the  participants  would 
fain  patch  up  the  matter  themselves,  but  they  know  very 
well  that  the  news  will  soon  reach  the  city  and  that  soldiers 
will  be  sent  out  to  investigate.  The  result  will  be  arrests 
and  heavy  fines  all  around.  To  anticipate  this,  representa- 
tives of  either  side  may  be  seen  hastening  along  the  road  to 
Jerusalem.  The  first  one  in  tells  his  story  and  buys  up 

229 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

friends  among  the  officials.  The  most  money  counts,  but 
the  officials  take  care  that  each  side  of  the  matter  is  made 
profitable  to  themselves.  The  case  may  drag  on  for  months, 
scores  of  dollars  being  reaped  by  the  officials,  who  may  then 
consent  to  an  amicable  agreement  among  the  principals. 
And  yet,  the  fear  of  such  pecuniary  consequences  acts  as  a 
restraining  influence  in  many  villages  in  which  there  is  not  a 
single  official  representative  of  the  government.  Such  vil- 
lages are  controlled  through  an  abundance  of  talebearing. 
On  the  other  hand,  who  can  blame  an  underpaid  class  of  in- 
fluentials  for  welcoming  lucrative  disturbances?  Those  who 
hold  office  have  to  pay  largely  for  the  privilege,  and  the  salary 
being  merely  nominal,  they  have  to  reimburse  themselves 
and  live  in  the  only  way  that  Turkish  practise  encourages. 

The  officials  in  charge  of  the  important  posts  are  usually 
sent  from  Constantinople  and  are  not  generally  citizens  of 
Palestine. 

The  levies  of  troops  are  sent  for  service  to  parts  of  the 
empire  distant  from  their  homes,  so  that  the  local  soldiery 
in  Palestine  has  little  in  common  with  the  people. 

One  will  be  pained  to  miss  the  spirit  of  public  weal,  the 
commiseration  of  the  unfortunate  or  the  willingness  to  un- 
dertake enterprises  that  would  be  for  the  general  good. 
Absolutism  means  individualism  only  relieved  by  the  won- 
derful tie  of  kinship  and  family  among  the  common  people. 

There  is  a  local  Turkish  postal  service,  with  offices  at  all 
the  large  centers  and  in  some  of  the  inland  villages  of  im- 
portance. Mail  destined  to  points  without  the  empire  must 
bear  postage  stamps  of  a  different  issue  from  those  affixed 
to  domestic  matter.  The  readiest  way  to  distinguish  these 
two  issues  is  to  notice  that  the  stamps  allowed  to  go  out  of  the 
country  are  provided  with  the  emblem  of  the  crescent  at 
each  of  the  upper  corners,  while  the  stamps  restricted  to 
domestic  use  have  but  one  crescent  at  the  top,  and  that  in 
the  middle  of  the  top  line. 

230 


PRIMITIVE   RUG    WEAVING    (fiEDAWIN) 


STRAW   MAT   AND    BASKET   MAKING:    JIFNA    WOMAN 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

Besides  the  Turkish  postal  facilities  there  are  also,  by 
special  rights  of  extraterritoriality,  offices  and  services  by  the 
posts  of  other  countries.  At  Jerusalem  and  Jaffa  there  are 
Austrian,  French,  German  and  Russian  post-offices.  The 
Germans  have  one  at  Ramleh  also.  The  telegraph  service  is 
in  charge  of  the  government  and  connects  a  number  of  towns 
east  and  west  of  the  Jordan  with  each  other  and  the  outside 
world.  The  service  is  reasonable  in  price,  but  precarious  in 
results.  I  once  telegraphed  from  Beirut  to  Jerusalem  and 
asked  the  operator  if  the  message  would  reach  its  destination 
by  noon,  then  several  hours  away,  and  was  answered,  "  If 
God  wills."  During  the  unquiet  times  in  Beirut  in  the  sum- 
mer of  1903  some  one  in  Jerusalem,  anxious  concerning 
friends  in  the  disturbed  city,  essayed  to  send  the  simple 
inquiry,  "Are  you  well?  "  but  the  message  was  refused  at  the 
office.  No  reference,  inquiry  or  information  is  ever  allowed, 
officially,  concerning  any  troubles  in  any  part  of  the  empire. 
Nevertheless,  news  has  a  remarkable  way  of  sifting  into  the 
country  and  passing  from  lip  to  lip  very  rapidly.  When  the 
Ottoman  Bank  was  dynamited  in  Salonika  the  news  quickly 
reached  the  ports  on  the  Syrian  coasts  and  went  as  a  rumor 
all  through  the  country.  For  some  reason  or  other,  messages 
by  telegraph  and  cable  for  European  and  American  destina- 
tions, and  messages  from  those  places,  often  take  three  or 
four  days  in  transmission,  and  sometimes  longer,  if,  indeed, 
they  "  come  through  "  at  all. 

Travel  to  and  from  Palestine  is  often  impeded  by  the 
imposition  of  quarantines  against  certain  ports.  Very  much 
of  the  time  a  quarantine  of  from  five  to  ten  days  is  ordered 
against  vessels  from  Egyptian  ports,  and  sometimes  from 
other  directions.  The  excuse  for  the  discrimination  against 
Egypt  is  usually  the  bubonic  plague,  sometimes  cholera. 
All  vessels  from  Egypt  must  proceed  to  Beirut,  or  some  other 
port  provided  with  a  quarantine  station,  and  pass  the  re- 
quired time.  If,  in  returning  to  Jaffa  after  the  quarantine, 

231 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

severe  storms  should  hinder  a  landing,  and  the  vessel  should 
proceed  southward  to  touch  an  Egyptian  port  again,  the 
quarantine  would  again  be  enforced  on  the  ship  and  pas- 
sengers, and  the  same  procedure  as  before  be  necessary. 
Passengers  have  thus  been  carried  by  Jaffa  more  times  than 
once  and  greatly  hampered,  even  though  they  had  joined  the 
ship  at  Beirut  only,  with  Jaffa  as  their  destination.  These 
inconveniences  are  overshadowed  by  the  crippling  effect  on 
trade  and  travel  when  a  state  of  panic  has  resulted  in  the 
enforcement  of  quarantine  back  and  forth  between  different 
ports,  and  even  different  towns  and  villages  within  the 
country  itself. 

The  coastwise  traffic  is  carried  on  by  means  of  several  lines 
of  steamships:  the  Khedevieh  Line,  under  English  control; 
the  Russian,  the  Austrian  Lloyd,  the  French,  "  Messageries," 
and  sometimes  the  German  Lloyd,  Some  of  these  touch  at 
Haifa  as  well  as  at  Jaffa  and  Beirut.  There  is  a  little  coast- 
ing steamboat  that  plies  between  Haifa  and  Beirut,  touching 
at  Acre,  Tyre  and  Sidon.  This  is  called  the  Jolly  Boat,  but 
unless  one  is  an  extraordinarily  good  sailor  I  should  advise 
him  not  to  be  beguiled  by  that  name.  On  the  other  lines 
mentioned  there  are  generally  three  classes  of  passage  tickets. 
The  deck  passage  is  taken  by  many  Orientals,  who  travel  with 
ample  equipment  of  bedding,  food  and  bottle-pipes,  and 
camp  out  on  the  decks  day  and  night.  Much  of  their  time 
is  spent  in  the  routine  of  family  duties  and  religious 
observances.  The  rest  is  devoted  to  music,  stories  and 
games.  Mohammedans,  Jews,  Greeks,  Copts,  Abyssinians 
and  Armenians  are  seen  at  their  devotions.  Their  object 
may  be  trade,  migration,  military  service  or  a  religious 
mission.  Many  are  pilgrims,  saving  long  and  tedious  land 
travel  by  the  swifter,  safer  and  healthier  journey  on  sea. 

The  railway  service  actually  working  in  Syria  consists  of 
the  line  between  Jaffa  and  Jerusalem,  the  service  between 
Beirut  and  Damascus,  the  extension  from  Reyak  on  the 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

Damascus  line  through  Ba'albek,  and  the  line  from  Damascus 
southward  to  Mezayrib  and  the  east- Jordan  country,  des- 
tined ultimately  to  reach  Mekka.  A  line  from  Haifa  to 
connect  with  this  latter  line  is  under  way.  Two  classes  of 
passage  are  provided.  The  cars  generally  have  compart- 
ments, though  some,  as  the  second  class  on  the  Jaffa- 
Jerusalem  line,  have  one-room  cars  with  seats  running  along 
both  sides  and  a  bench  through  the  middle.  Even  in  the 
second-class  cars  a  separate  section  is  often  provided  for  the 
use  of  women.  This  section  is  known  as  the  harim.  In  the 
seclusion  of  the  harim  apartment  the  women  may  put  off 
their  veils  and  have  the  freedom  of  the  place.  When  the 
conductor  comes  for  the  tickets  he  raps  sharply  on  the 
door  of  the  harim  to  give  the  women  warning.  After 
sufficient  time  has  been  allowed  them  for  veiling  their  faces 
the  conductor  may  step  inside  if  necessary  for  the  collection 
of  fares.  The  word  harim  signifies  any  place  reserved  for 
the  exclusive  use  of  women.  It  may  be  in  a  dwelling,  a 
mosk  or  a  railway-train,  or  it  may  apply  to  the  group  of 
women  sitting  under  a  tree  or  on  the  roadside  or  in  the 
cemetery.  This  term,  generally  spelled  harem  in  English, 
has  no  polygamous  connotation  in  itself  whatever.  A  man's 
wife,  mother,  sisters  and  daughters,  as  we  should  say  col- 
lectively, the  women  of  the  family,  are  denoted  by  the 
analogous  expression  harim. 

The  great  majority  of  travelers  go  afoot  or  astride  the 
backs  of  animals.  Pilgrimage  opens  connection  with  the 
outside  world  and  makes  the  road  travel  take  on  a  cosmo- 
politan look.  The  largest  contingent  of  foreign  pilgrims  is 
that  from  Russia,  made  up  of  peasants,  who  number  some- 
times as  high  as  ten  thousand  in  one  season.  These  are, 
of  course,  members  of  the  Greek  Orthodox  Church.  They 
are  assisted  by  a  pilgrimage  society  in  Russia  and  by  a  system 
of  escort  and  hospices  within  the  country  of  Palestine. 
Montenegrin  kawasses  (cavasses)  and  other  officers  guide  the 

233 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

parties.  Arrived  at  Jaffa  by  Russian  steamships,  they  un- 
dertake long  marches  afoot  and  show  every  sign  of  religious 
ecstasy  at  beholding  the  land  of  their  desire.  A  few  asses 
are  provided  for  the  infirm.  Young  people,  particularly 
very  young  women,  are  not  usually  allowed  to  come.  The 
pilgrims  are  for  the  most  part  middle-aged  or  old  peasants. 
They  live  very  humbly  and  visit  the  holy  places  with  great 
zeal.  They  often  march  through  the  country  singing,  pick- 
ing flowers  and  decorating  with  them  their  pilgrim  staffs. 
The  observance  of  Easter  at  the  shrine  in  Jerusalem  is  the 
climax  of  such  a  pilgrim's  errand,  but  additional  journeys  of 
devotion  are  undertaken  to  Nazareth,  Bethlehem;  also  the 
Jordan,  where  the  pilgrims  bathe  in  the  waters.  At  the 
Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulcher  in  Jerusalem  all  the  traditions 
are  observed  and  many  objects  of  piety,  as  they  are  called, 
pictures,  crosses  and  souvenirs  of  the  Holy  City,  are  pur- 
chased to  be  taken  back  to  Russia.  Some  of  these  are  carried 
within  the  tomb  and  laid  on  the  venerated  slab,  where,  for 
a  few  cents,  an  attendant  of  the  church  sprinkles  the  articles 
with  holy  water,  thus  giving  them  a  permanent  value  as 
sacred  treasures. 

These  Russian  pilgrims  often  suffer  severely  when  caught 
on  the  road  in  raw,  inclement  weather.  Such  as  die  in  the 
land  are  counted  as  favored,  especially  if  they  die  at  Jeru- 
salem. They  thus  secure  burial  near  its  sacred  shrines.  A 
large  caravanserai  is  provided  at  Jerusalem,  where  they  set 
up  housekeeping  while  in  the  city.  On  the  road,  hospices 
and  the  Greek  churches  are  open  to  them.  One's  general 
impression  is  that  they  are  well  protected.  They  usually 
change  their  money  into  metliks,  small  Turkish  coins  valued 
at  a  little  over  a  cent.  In  Jerusalem  a  number  of  shops 
cater  especially  for  their  trade.  These  are  arranged  in  the 
sides  of  the  street  leading  to  the  gates  of  the  Russian  Com- 
pound, within  which  the  lodging  quarters,  a  fine  church  and 
the  administration  buildings  are  found.  They  are  thus  en- 

234 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

abled  to  hear  their  own  language  and  buy  tea,  bread  and 
other  articles  of  food  somewhat  familiar  to  them. 

The  pilgrim  business  brings  Russian  interests  to  the 
notice  of  the  country  people.  The  result  has  generally  been 
a  favorable  attitude  on  the  part  of  Palestinians  towards 
Russians.  This  has  been  helped  by  a  generous  expenditure 
of  money  for  courtesies  as  well  as  in  the  purchase  of  land 
and  the  construction  of  buildings.  Churches,  schools  and 
hospices  have  been  erected  and  much  land  has  been  trans- 
ferred to  the  Russian  agents. 

Other  pilgrim  parties  arrive  from  different  countries  of 
Europe.  The  Roman  Catholics  from  France  and  Austria  are 
most  numerous  after  the  Russians.  For  a  quarter  of  a  cen- 
tury past,  a  large  French  party  of  tourist  pilgrims  has  been 
made  up  each  year  to  start  from  Marseilles  and  make  the 
Palestine  visit.  The  round  trip  costs  about  two  hundred 
fifty  dollars.  We  saw  the  party  in  May,  1901,  when  it 
numbered  one  hundred  ninety-four.  They  entered  the 
country  at  Haifa,  drove  by  carriage  to  Nazareth  and  to  the 
Sea  of  Galilee.  Thence  they  rode  to  the  top  of  Mount 
Tabor,  where  there  is  a  Roman  Catholic  as  well  as  a  Greek 
monastery,  and  so  on  down  through  the  country  via  D6t£n 
(Dothan),  Samaria,  Shechem,  etc.,  to  Jerusalem.  The  Fran- 
ciscan monasteries  and  the  hospices  of  other  foundations  give 
ample  accommodations.  The  Armenians,  Copts  and  Abys- 
sinians,  also,  as  well  as  the  Greeks  other  than  Russians,  make 
ample  provision  for  the  entertainment  of  the  religious  pil- 
grims. Whenever  the  rightful  claimants  on  the  hospitality 
of  these  various  houses  do  not  take  all  the  accommodations, 
any  foreign  traveler  may  find  shelter  and  assistance  at  them. 
In  some  cases  letters  of  introduction  from  the  Jerusalem 
patriarchates  are  required,  but  these  are  not  difficult  to 
secure.  The  German  hotels  in  the  country  are  excellent 
providers  for  the  wants  of  tourists. 

The  companies  of  tourists,  if  they  are  to  be  distinguished 

235 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

from  the  pilgrim  parties,  are  generally  made  up  of  Americans, 
English  and  Germans,  the  first  mentioned  being  the  more 
numerous.  Tourists  go  in  parties  under  the  care  of  a  director 
and  his  corps  of  assistants,  or  sometimes  singly  or  in  very 
small  parties  with  a  native  guide.  Sometimes  the  travelers 
depend  on  the  shelter  of  hotels,  monasteries  and  native 
houses  by  the  way;  sometimes  they  take  a  complete  outfit 
for  a  tenting  party.  Horses  are  provided  for  the  travelers, 
and  mules  for  carrying  baggage  and  equipment.  Supplies 
are  usually  purchased  at  such  starting-points  as  Jerusalem, 
Damascus,  Beirut  and  Haifa.  The  peasants  along  the  route 
are  on  the  alert  to  sell  services  or  beg  favors. 

For  any  extensive  travel  through  the  country  an  official 
certificate  is  required.  Foreigners  and  natives  must  have 
these  official  papers,  called  teskerehs,  which  describe  the 
bearer's  person,  residence  and  destination.  They  must  be 
produced,  when  required,  and  at  the  destination  must  be 
stamped  as  a  sort  of  permit  for  the  return  journey.  Without 
this  authorization  delays  are  apt  to  occur  and  fines  may  be 
imposed  before  the  defect  can  be  remedied. 

The  Turkish  coinage  alone  is  sure  of  general  acceptability 
in  the  back  districts. 

The  different  posts  register  parcels  and  sell  money-orders 
at  very  reasonable  rates.  For  sending  small  sums  to  and 
from  the  country  the  money-orders  on  the  Austrian,  French 
or  German  post-offices  have  proved  the  safest  and  cheapest 
way.  There  are  forwarders  whose  business  it  is  to  assist  in 
the  passage  of  goods  through  the  ports,  and  to  see  to  cus- 
toms, freights  and  insurance  on  the  same.  Mr.  K.  U.  L. 
Breisch  and  the  Messrs.  Singer,  of  Jaffa  and  Jerusalem,  do  a 
great  deal  of  this  business  for  Europeans  and  Americans. 
Baggage  should  always  be  in  trunks;  never,  if  it  is  avoidable, 
cased  up  in  boxes,  as  it  is  then  very  difficult  to  explain  to 
the  officials  the  difference  between  personal  effects  and  mer- 
chandise. Most  of  the  leading  tourist  agents,  forwarders  and 

236 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

dragomans  have  an  understanding  by  which  trunks  are 
passed  through  the  customs  without  opening,  on  payment 
of  a  small  fee,  especially  if  a  considerable  number  of  people 
are  traveling  together. 

The  Credit  Lyonnaise  and  the  Deutsche  Palestina  Bank 
are  very  much  used  by  foreigners.  Drafts  on  London  and 
letters  of  credit  are  in  constant  use. 

The  consulates  are  retreats  of  great  comfort  in  Asiatic 
Turkey.  The  complaints  that  are  so  often  heard  against 
such  service  in  other  countries  are  changed  to  praise  in  Syria. 
One  may  expect  intelligence  and  consideration  on  the  part 
of  the  official  of  one's  own  race  and  tongue,  but  one  should 
not  make  unreasonable  demands  upon  even  a  countryman. 
The  United  States  of  America  and  Great  Britain  are  nobly 
represented  by  men  who  understand  both  the  Western  and 
Eastern  points  of  view. 

One  traveling  in  the  country  and  getting  at  all  familiar 
with  the  people  will  be  sought  pretty  surely  by  persons  who 
wish  to  be  helped  to  emigrate  to  America  or  some  other 
Western  country.  The  first  impulse  will  be  the  generous  one 
to  assist  such  in  their  ambitions.  But  on  second  thought 
one  will  often  reflect  that  it  would  be  a  doubtful  kindness. 
The  Syrian  peasant,  especially  the  Christian,  who  is  most 
apt  to  wish  to  go,  is  surrounded  by  family  interests  and  a 
respect  that  he  could  seldom,  if  ever,  enjoy  anywhere  else. 
If  he  emigrates  he  usually  goes  alone  and  has  chiefly  in  mind 
the  earning  of  money.  While  in  America  he  acquires  little 
culture,  being  a  sort  of  exile  here,  endeavoring  to  make  and 
save  money  to  take  him  back  to  live  comfortably  where  he 
was  born,  or  immersing  himself  for  life  in  one  of  the  foreign 
colonies  of  our  great  cities.  A  visit  to  the  Syrian  colonies  in 
the  American  cities  will  convince  many  that  the  Syrian  there 
is  less  attractive  than  in  his  proper  and  unique  setting  in  the 
Holy  Land.  That  land  is  to  be  redeemed  by  the  vigor  of  its 
own  people,  not  by  their  absence.  One  will  notice  that 

237 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

many  of  the  would-be  emigrants  are  of  the  best  stock  of 
Syria,  very  often  skilful,  wide-awake  people,  who  are  very 
valuable  at  home  in  the  development  of  the  country  and 
among  their  families,  but  are  of  negligible  quality  and  im- 
portance in  another  country,  where  foreigners  are  at  a  dis- 
count. I  have  in  mind  a  strong,  capable  young  man  whose 
desire  for  emigration  to  America  has  been  very  earnest.  He 
gave  up  a  good  position  and  made  ready  to  start,  but  his 
wife  interposed  firmly.  She  said  that  she  had  been  widowed 
once,  having  lost  her  first  husband.  According  to  the  custom 
of  the  country,  when  she  married  again  her  children  by  the 
first  husband  had  to  be  separated  from 'her.  She  objected 
to  losing  her  second  husband  and  being  left  with  his  children, 
helpless  to  provide  for  them  except  by  giving  them  up.  So 
she  said  that  if  her  husband  would  take  their  children  along 
with  him  she  would  submit,  but  she  objected  to  his  going  off 
on  a  venture  of  so  uncertain  issue  and  leaving  his  family  in 
such  a  precarious  condition.  She  prevailed,  and  the  man 
remained,  being  fortunate  enough  to  secure  his  old  position. 
He  is  a  respected,  capable  young  man  of  large  and  fond 
family  connections.  His  wife  is  industrious  and  skilful,  his 
children  young,  healthy  and  favored.  He  has  the  advantage 
of  being  a  somebody  in  his  village  and  tribe  and  of  setting  an 
excellent  example.  Anywhere  else  he  would  be  cut  off  from 
all  his  advantages  and  introduced  to  an  appalling  list  of 
disadvantages  and  limitations.  He  would  be  homesick,  for 
he  loves  his  family.  Money  alone  would  explain  his  absence 
from  them,  and  that  would  not  be  a  sufficient  cause  for  the 
unnatural  condition  which  would  be  brought  about.  It  is 
these  good  people  whom  their  country  cannot  spare  and 
whom  no  Western  country  especially  needs  who  are  most  apt 
to  have  the  emigration  fever.  Those  who  do  not  come  up 
to  this  high  standard  are  of  questionable  value  anywhere. 


THE       PEASANTRY       OF       PALESTINE 


APPENDIX 

THE    CALENDAR 

IN  1904,  January  1,  according  to  our  Gregorian  calendar, 
came  on  Friday.  The  Julian  calendar,  the  one  used  by  the 
Greek  Orthodox  Church,  made  this  same  day  the  nineteenth 
of  December.  According  to  the  Moslem  calendar  it  was  the 
thirteenth  day  of  the  month  Shaww&l,  and  by  the  Hebrew 
calendar,  as  it  is  read  in  Arabic  by  the  Jews  in  Palestine,  it 
was  the  thirteenth  day  of  the  month  Tebet.  For  the  year 
1904  the  correspondences  of  the  four  calendars  were  as 
given  on  the  next  page. 

The  following  list  shows  the  names  of  the  months,  as  used 
by  the  native  Arabic-speaking  Christians  (first  column),  by 
the  Moslems  (second  column),  and  by  the  Jews  (third 
column) : 

K&nun  ith-thany  Shawwal  Tebet 

Shibat  DM  il-ka'dat  Shabat 

Adhar  Dhfi  il-hajjat  Adar 

Nisan  Muharram  Nisan 

Ayyar  §afar  Ayyar 

Haziran  Rabi'a  il-awwal  Siwan 

Tammtiz  Rabi'a  il-akhir  Tammuz 

Ab  Jumada  Mia  Ab 

Aylul  Jumada  il-&khirat  Aylul 

Tishrln  il-awwal  Rajab  Tishry 

Tishrin  ith-thany  Sha'ban  Hishwan 

Kanun  il-dwwal  Ramadan  Kislii 

The  Oriental  churches  use  the  Julian  calendar,  while 
Protestants  and  Roman  Catholics  use  the  Gregorian.  The 
Moslem  year  is  a  lunar  year.  Thus  it  can  be  understood 
readily  that  the  varietir  of  designations  for  any  given  day  is 
considerable.  Moreover,  the  Copts  and  the  Armenians  have 
methods  peculiar  to  themselves. 

239 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 


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240 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

TIME 

In  Palestine  villages  the  time  of  day  is  reckoned  with 
reference  to  sunset,  which  is  called  twelve  o'clock.  If  the 
sun  should  set  at  six  o'clock,  European  time,  then  seven 
o'clock  in  the  evening,  as  we  should  say,  would  be  called  the 
first  hour  of  the  night  by  the  Arabs,  and  seven  o'clock  the 
next  morning  by  our  watches  would  be  the  first  hour  of  the 
day  according  to  Arab  time.  The  two  methods  of  keeping 
the  time  are  termed,  respectively,  Arabi  and  Franji. 


241 


THE        PEASANTRY       OF        PALESTINE 


CHAPTER  XII 

FURTHER  CONSIDERATIONS 

DURING  fifteen  years,  Syrian  migration  to  western  coun- 
tries grew  apace.  Whereas  the  Lebanon  district  had  been 
the  chief  loser  before,  Palestine  now  sent  large  quotas. 
Among  these  latter  were  many  men  from  the  Ramallah 
region.  There  was  no  freedom  at  home.  The  political, 
religious  and  economic  pressure  became  heavier.  Release 
in  foreign  countries  proved  enticing  to  thousands.  Besides 
the  itinerating  venders  of  dry  goods  and  the  operatives  in 
mills,  there  were  a  number  of  students  and  graduates  in 
arts,  sciences,  theology,  law,  medicine  and  engineering. 
Syrian  artists  and  poets  as  well  as  prosperous  merchants 
were  known.  From  the  time  that  Joseph  went  to  Egypt, 
Syrians  of  ability  have  prospered  in  foreign  countries. 

When  the  Turkish  revolutions  promised  enfranchise- 
ment, numbers  of  Syrians  returned  to  the  home  land  only 
to  find,  after  the  first  enthusiasm  and  manifestations  of 
brotherhood,  the  old  oppressions  in  new  forms  and  an  in- 
creased feeling  of  suspicion.  The  army  service  now  became 
compulsory  upon  Christians  as  well  as  upon  Moslems  and 
certain  of  its  conditions  were  odious  to  the  newly  drafted 
men.  The  government  required  that  all  schools  should 
introduce  Turkish  into  the  course  of  study,  but  it  was  very 
difficult  to  find  suitable  teachers  and  to  introduce  them  into 
the  lower  schools. 

When  the  War  came  on  and  Turkey  disallowed  the  capit- 
ulations matters  grew  worse.  The  Arab,  always  hostile 
to  the  Turk,  had  the  sympathy  of  those  Syrians  who  had 
any  trace  of  Arab  blood  and  others  of  more  mixed  race. 
A  Syrian  was  loyal  to  his  country  but  found  it  difficult  to 

242 


THE        PEASANTRY        OF        PALESTINE 

be  loyal  to  the  course  of  his  government.  He  felt  drawn 
to  the  Allies  but  was  often  drafted  against  them.  After 
the  Arab  revolt  there  followed  in  due  course,  the  deliver- 
ance of  Palestine  and  much  of  Syria  from  thraldom  to  the 
Turk.  The  Turkish  genius  is  not  appropriate  for  Syria. 
The  culture  suitable  there  is  one  sincerely  tolerant,  yes 
better  than  tolerant,  appreciative  of  the  various  faiths 
represented  in  the  land.  This  culture,  so  far  as  it  is  schooled, 
should  be  based  upon  classical  and  scientific  preparations. 
Syrian  education  has  for  a  long  time  been  under  the  guid- 
ance of  western  thought,  whether  at  home  or  abroad,  and 
the  Syrian  mind  is  of  the  character  to  fellowship  with  the 
West.  Those  who  think  otherwise,  recalling  the  peculiar 
conditions  of  tyranny  and  corruption  that  have  been  forced 
on  the  country  for  a  thousand  years,  should  remember  that 
the  larger  part  of  all  the  educational  enterprise  in  Syria 
and  Palestine,  for  nearly  a  century,  has  been  the  work  of 
missionaries  from  the  West.  It  is  Syria's  destiny  to  be 
practically  a  western  country,  or  better,  to  absorb  the  best 
intellectual  inheritance  of  the  modern  world.  It  has  the 
physique  and  the  brains.  Has  it  the  humility  and  teach- 
ableness requisite  for  this  destiny?  Has  it  the  courage  to 
be  idealistic  in  the  midst  of  the  solid  realistic  achieve- 
ments to  be  gained?  One  thing  within  them  the  past  has 
crushed.  Magnanimity  must  be  restored  in  them  before 
they  can  become  great.  If  they  can  learn  to  lose  themselves 
they  will  find  themselves  forever. 

Syrians  are  often  clever  with  their  hands  in  mechanical 
work.  Such  schools  as  the  old  Schneller's  orphanage  for 
boys  did  a  great  deal  of  good  along  much  needed  lines. 
They  are  keen  in  literary  and  philosophical  pursuits.  Born 
linguists,  excellent  in  such  studies  as  law  and  economics, 
they  could  adorn  an  era  of  peace  when  once  they  are  per- 
suaded of  a  generous  spirit  of  fair  play. 

Schools  of  all  grades  are  needed  and  there  is  no  reason, 

243 


THE       PEASANTRY       OF        PALESTINE 

except  the  slender  resources  of  the  people,  why  they  may 
not  be  gradually  established.  Such  schools  as  the  Men's 
Training  College  in  Jerusalem  among  the  newer  and  the 
Ramallah  Friends'  (Quakers)  Schools  among  the  long 
established  have  a  great  opportunity.  They  know  the  prob- 
lems and  have  good  methods.  But  the  poverty  of  the  people 
would  keep  the  vast  majority  of  the  children  of  the  country 
from  such  institutions.  Scholarships  and  more  substantial 
aid  is  needed  to  help  such  schools  accept  a  larger  propor- 
tion of  those  applying  for  entrance.  It  has  long  been  the 
writer's  thought  that  such  fine  finishing  schools  as  those  at 
Ramallah,  for  example,  should  be  supplemented  by  many 
elementary  schools  which  would  keep  close  to  native  cus- 
toms, dress,  food,  etc.,  in  the  numerous  small  villages  and 
which  could  send  their  choicer  pupils  to  the  advanced 
schools.  A  two  or  three  branched  scheme  of  education  and 
training  should  take  the  children  at  twelve  into  classical, 
scientific,  and  technical  or  trade  lines  of  development.  The 
temptation  to  hasten  expansion  faster  than  the  supply  of 
good  Syrian  teachers  can  be  provided,  should  be  resisted. 
The  teachers  should  be  more  than  formally  trained.  They 
should  be  picked  with  a  view  to  their  personal  character, 
loyalty,  common  sense  and  vision. 

The  British  civil  administration  in  Palestine  may  be  said 
to  have  been  fairly  launched  by  the  arrival  and  pronounce- 
ments of  Sir  Herbert  Samuel  in  July,  1920.  The  first  six 
months  of  his  official  presence  have  given  a  good  impres- 
sion among  citizens,  villagers  and  Arab  tribes.  His  Excel- 
lency outlined  his  plans  and  hopes  in  an  address  on  July  6. 
The  policy  of  the  British  government  in  Palestine  "safe- 
guards the  rights  of  all  sections  of  the  inhabitants  of 
Palestine  in  relation  to  the  Holy  Places,  to  the  ownership 
and  cultivation  of  lands,  and  to  all  other  matters  in  accord- 
ance with  the  dictates  of  justice."  An  Administrative 
Council  with  advisory  functions  met  on  October  6.  Various 

244 


THE        PEASANTRY        OF        PALESTINE 

sections  of  the  population  are  represented  as  will  be  seen 
from  this  list  taken  from  The  Palestine  Weekly. 

Mr.  J.  B.  Barron,  Mr.  Ben  Zwi,  M.  Norman  Bentwich, 
Michel  Effendy  Berouti,  Mr.  W.  H.  Deedes,  Mr.  R.  A. 
Harari,  Ismail  Bey  El  Husseini,  Colonel  G.  W.  Heron, 
Colonel  R.  Holmes,  Abdel  Haj  Effendy  El  Khatib,  Mr.  K. 
M.  Kalvaresky,  Mr.  R.  J.  Legge,  Sheikh  Ferieh  Abu 
Middein,  Suleiman  Bey  Nassif,  Colonel  F.  J.  Postlethwaite, 
Dr.  Habib  Yateen  Salim,  Mr.  E.  R.  Sawer,  Suleiman  Abdul 
Razzak  Effendy  Toukan,  Mr.  R.  Storrs,  Mr.  David  Yellin. 
All  but  three  of  this  list  were  present  and  their  substitutes 
were  provided.  The  list  was  made  in  an  effort  to  represent 
the  various  interests  of  the  land,  regional,  religious,  and 
economic  by  the  best  persons  available  for  the  service. 

The  railways  are  under  the  administration  of  the  govern- 
ment. Duties  connected  with  education,  banking,  land 
transfer,  health,  post-office,  customs,  courts,  town  planning, 
afforestation  and  antiquities  have  already  been  attempted 
by  the  new  regime.  The  government  schools  are,  so  far, 
attended  by  Moslem  children  chiefly,  since  the  Christians 
seek  to  safeguard  religious  instruction  and  the  Jews  wish 
to  cultivate  their  ancient  language  and  the  national  ideals. 
But  even  as  things  stand  the  government  schools  reach  but 
ten  or  twelve  thousand  Moslem  children  out  of  an  estimated 
total  of  over  a  hundred  thousand.  Probably  the  proportion 
of  Christians  and  Jews  in  school  is  much  better,  but  it  will 
be  seen  how  serious  a  problem  the  educational  need  presents. 

A  plan  for  loaning  money  will  probably  be  adopted  which 
will  provide  for  loans  on  real  property  by  the  government 
banks.  A  new  ordinance  for  land  transfers  has  been  made 
which  is  explained  as  follows : 

''The  general  principle  of  the  Ordinance  is  that  all 
transactions,  other  than  leases  for  a  term  of  not  more  than 
three  years,  must  be  carried  out  through  the  Land  Registry, 
and  must  receive  the  consent  of  the  administration;  other- 

245 


THE    PEASANTRY    OF    PALESTINE 

wise  they  will  be  null  and  void,  and  persons  disposing  of, 
or  acquiring  land  illegally,  will  be  liable  to  fine  and  for- 
feiture of  the  property.  The  restrictions  on  transfers  have 
been  introduced  purely  in  the  interests  of  the  people.  The 
principle  reason  for  requiring  the  consent  of  the  Adminis- 
tration is  to  prevent  speculation  in  land  which  will  cause 
an  excessive  rise  of  prices  and  prevent  development. 
Transactions  will  only  be  allowed  if  the  person  requiring 
the  land  will  cultivate  it,  supposing  it  is  agricultural  land, 
or  develop  it  immediately  supposing  it  is  urban  land. 

"Another  object  of  the  control  of  the  Administration  is  to 
protect  the  small  farmer  in  his  holding.  If  he  is  the  owner 
of  land  he  will  be  unable  to  sell  such  part  as  is  necessary 
for  the  maintenance  of  himself  and  his  family ;  and  if  he  is 
the  tenant  the  landlord  will  be  unable  to  sell  without  leav- 
ing sufficient  land  for  him.  The  amount  to  be  left  for  the 
small  landowner  will  differ  in  various  parts  in  the  country, 
and  will  be  determined  according  to  the  quality  of  the  land 
by  the  District  Governor. 

* c  Every  disposition  of  land  will  be  commenced  by  a  peti- 
tion to  the  Governor  which  will  be  presented  through  the 
Land  Registry  of  the  District,  setting  out  the  proposed 
transactions.  A  disposition  includes  a  sale,  a  mortgage,  a 
gift,  a  constitution  of  wakf,  and  any  lease  for  more  than 
three  years.  The  petition  will  be  accompanied  by  a  certifi- 
cate from  the  Mukhtars  as  to  the  title  of  the  transferer  and 
by  his  documents  of  title. 

' '  The  Registrars  in  the  district  registries  will  give  all  per- 
sons desiring  to  dispose  of  their  land  full  details  as  to  what 
is  required,  and  will  furnish  them  with  the  necessary  forms. 
If  the  application  for  the  transaction  is  made  by  an  agent 
or  by  nominee,  the  proposed  purchaser  must  be  disclosed 
and  registration  must  take  place  in  his  name.  Registration 
in  the  name  of  other  persons  will  be  invalid  and  will  make 
the  parties  liable  to  penalties.  The  Registrar  will  see  if  the 

246 


THE        PEASANTRY        OF        PALESTINE 

conditions  of  the  Ordinance  are  satisfied  and  will  examine 
the  title  of  the  transferer.  If  the  transaction  is  found  to  be 
in  order,  it  will  be  referred  to  the  District  Governor  for 
his  consent. 

''The  District  Governor  will  give  his  consent  only  if  the 
person  acquiring  the  land  fulfils  the  following  conditions: 
(1)  He  must  be  a  resident  of  Palestine;  (2)  he  must  not 
acquire  land  exceeding  either  L.E.  3000  in  value  or  a  cer- 
tain area;  (3)  he  must  prove  that  he  intends  to  cultivate  or 
develop  the  land  immediately. 

"These  restrictions  are  introduced  to  prevent  the  land 
being  bought  by  speculators  from  outside  the  country  and 
also  to  prevent  the  increase  of  large  areas  of  land  in  a 
few  hands.  In  order  to  prevent  speculation,  a  further 
restriction  is  introduced,  that  if  the  land  has  been  disposed 
of  within  a  year  the  Governor  shall  not  give  his  consent  to 
a  further  disposition  unless  the  transferer  gives  a  satis- 
factory reason  for  wishing  to  dispose  of  it  again.  It  would 
be  a  satisfactory  reason  if  the  original  purchaser  had  died 
during  the  year  and  his  heirs  had  to  sell  the  property.  But 
the  restriction  will  prevent  people  from  buying  land  simply 
in  order  to  sell  to  others  at  a  profit. 

1 1  The  High  Commissioner  can  consent  to  land  transactions 
without  any  restriction,  provided  that  he  is  satisfied  that 
they  will  be  for  the  public  benefit.  And  all  transactions 
which  cannot  be  passed  by  the  District  Governor  either 
because  of  the  value  and  area  of  the  land  to  be  disposed 
of,  or  because  the  person  acquiring  is  not  a  resident  will 
be  referred  to  him."  Taken  from  The  Palestine  Weekly 
for  October  1,  1920. 

Within  a  few  months  of  its  inauguration  the  civil 
administration  was  able  to  report  fifteen  government  hos- 
pitals with  293  beds,  twenty-one  dispensaries,  eight  clinics, 
five  epidemic-posts  and  plans  projected  for  combating 
malaria  scientifically. 

247 


THE   PEASANTRY   OF   PALESTINE 

The  new  plans  drawn  for  the  suitable  preservation  and 
adornment  of  Jerusalem,  provide  that  the  walled  city  shall 
be  safeguarded,  that  a  parked  space  outside  the  walls  shall 
be  assured  and  that  the  most  sacred  spots  beyond  that  space 
shall  be  protected  in  a  region  largely  open.  This  last  region 
will  include  Scopus,  Olivet  and  Bethany.  Expansion  of 
suburbs  beyond  those  preserves  will  be  allowed  in  an  attrac- 
tive system  of  streets  and  dwellings  to  the  north,  west 
and  south. 

A  new  broad  guage  railroad  has  been  constructed  be- 
tween Jaffa  and  Lydda.  A  few  tractors  have  been  intro- 
duced for  use  on  the  better  agricultural  land.  Strikes  have 
not  been  unknown.  In  one  reported  from  Jaffa  the  govern- 
ment told  its  officers  to  preserve  a  neutral  attitude  in  time 
of  labor  disputes,  to  preserve  order  and  not  to  interfere  with 
peaceful  picketing. 

The  difficulties  of  the  telephone  service  in  a  polyglot  town 
may  be  suggested  by  this  caricature  from  the  "Weekly." 

1 1  Our  office  boy  has  just  repeated  to  us  the  kind  of  con- 
versation he  hears  when  our  telephone  bell  happens  to  ring. 
'  Hello ;  that  The  Palestine  Weekly  ?— Bukra  subeh  ?  Tayeb ! 
— Ken,  gevereth,  ani  rotzeh — Hello!  Exchange!  Ex- 
change !  I  say,  miss — aywa,  aywa — buzz — aywa — Have  you 
got  them  yet? — Have  I  the — Je  vous  prie,  mademoiselle, 
tachez — shalom,  mayesh  =  Righto,  kiddie,  but  I  don't  leave 
till  five — La,  la,  moush  awez.  Enta — alors,  monsieur,  de- 
main  matin,  mais  vous  savez  bien  que — Oh,  ring  off,  Please ! 
I'm  not  asking  for — m'a  salaami — Finished  yet? — I  say 
miss,  do  give  them  another — Sapristi,  mais  cet  instrument 
— Y'allah— What  the— click !' 

"At  present  we  find  it  quicker  and  more  private  to  send 
a  postcard." 

Palestine  is  like  a  sealed  museum  of  historical  lore. 
In  the  hills  are  stored  many  antiquities.  It  is  hoped  that 
systematic  excavation  will  bring  many  of  them  to  the  sur- 

248 


THE        PEASANTRY        OF        PALESTINE 

face.  The  Palestine  Exploration  Fund  of  London,  England, 
is  the  veteran  society  for  digging  and  publishing  the  many 
treasures  still  lying  beneath  the  soil  of  the  Holy  Land. 
British  and  American  supporters  have  in  spite  of  their 
small  number  made  a  brave  and  continuous  effort  to  gather 
the  archaeological  materials  which  will  illuminate  the  Bible. 

The  Quarterly  periodical  of  the  Fund  and  its  annual 
volume  keep  subscribers  informed  of  the  discoveries  and 
discussions.  Since  1900,  The  American  School  of  Oriental 
Research  in  Jerusalem  has  endeavored  to  make  the  most 
of  opportunities  to  explore,  study  and  teach  the  interesting 
data  for  biblical  and  Semitic  research.  It  has  experts  in 
residence  at  Jerusalem  and  offers  a  fellowship  to  graduate 
students.  It  needs  a  budget  of  from  twenty  to  twenty-five 
thousand  dollars  to  make  the  best  use  of  its  rare  opportunity 
to  advance  religious  and  scientific  research.  The  new  gov- 
ernment has  taken  the  matter  of  antiquities  in  hand  in  a 
way  which  will  probably  insure  a  better  treatment  of  those 
who  conduct  research  and  a  better  disposition  of  the  treas- 
ures as  they  are  unearthed. 

The  test  offered  the  new  order  by  neighboring  Arabia 
and  the  Arabs  will  be  a  critical  one.  Let  us  take  a  quick 
survey  of  this  field  of  interest  and  consider  some  of  those 
conditions  past  and  present  which  make  the  Arab. 

Arabia,  the  great  south-central  part  of  which  is  unknown 
to  civilized  man,  is  an  immense  peninsula  hanging  between 
the  mass  of  the  Asian  continent  and  Africa,  two  spheres 
which  have  been  greatly  influenced  by  the  forces  issuing 
from  the  land  of  the  Arab.  The  huge  rectangular  mass  of 
Band  and  rock  and  tropical  coasts,  larger  than  India,  slants 
easterly  and  south  from  the  Mediterranean  to  the  Indian 
Ocean  and  is  bounded  on  the  sides  by  the  Red  Sea  and  the 
Persian  Gulf.  The  country  has  never  been  easily  acces- 
sible to  any  but  Arabs  and  it  is  even  now  a  question  how 

249 


THE    PEASANTRY    OF    PALESTINE 

much,  of  the  inland  territory  is  easily  traversible  by  them. 
The  desert  region  of  North  Arabia  receives  some  rain,  after 
which  a  succulent  growth  appears  which  lasts  but  a  short 
time,  say  from  a  few  weeks  to  a  few  months.  This  is  prob- 
ably true  of  some  other  less  well  known  parts  of  Arabia. 
We  know  that  oases  exist,  where  palm-trees,  wells  and  a 
settled  population  contrast  with  life  on  the  freer  steppe-land. 

Broadly  speaking,  the  people  fall  into  two  great  groups, 
the  Northern  and  Southern  Arabs  whose  struggles  through 
the  centuries  are  based  upon  the  two  incompatibles,  rapid 
increase  'and  scanty  sustenance.  The  pastures  and  springs 
do  not  suffice  for  them  all.  Certain  tribes  pay  chief  atten- 
tion to  camel  breeding,  others  to  sheep  and  goats,  others  who 
live  near  the  agricultural  lands  even  go  so  far  as  to  strike 
bargains  with  the  peasants  to  protect  the  crops  which  the 
latter  have  prepared.  Certain  tribes  are  in  the  transport 
business,  using  camels  as  carriers.  Still  others,  not  so  highly 
regarded,  axe  skilled  in  the  cruder  work  in  metal  and 
leather,  as  smiths  and  tanners.  Of  all  these,  the  camel- 
breeding  Arab  is  considered  the  type  of  the  true  sons  of 
the  desert. 

Petty  war  (raiding)  is  the  ideal  occupation  of  the  best 
young  manhood  of  the  desert.  This  follows  upon  the  mode 
of  nomadic  life.  The  property  of  a  bedawy  tribe  is  all 
movable  and  with  subsistence  too  scanty  for  growing  popu- 
lations the  nomads  crowd  upon  each  other  insistently  for 
the  use  of  the  springs  and  pastures.  In  the  springtime  of 
a  good  year  there  may  be  enough  for  all,  but  for  most  of 
the  year  the  supplies  of  food  would  not  go  around  if  the 
population  grew  unchecked.  No  such  multiplication  of 
resources  is  possible  as  in  agricultural  and  manufacturing 
countries.  The  produce  of  the  herds  and  flocks,  milk,  but- 
ter, cheese,  hair,  and  wool  and  a  few  simple  fabrics  made 
from  them  are  used  by  the  tribes  or  exchanged  for  the 

250 


THE    PEASANTRY   OF    PALESTINE 

products  of  the  oases  and  the  towns,  dates,  grain,  imple- 
ments, ammunition,  cloth  and  garments. 

The  basis  of  family  prosperity  is  found  in  those  qualities 
of  'a  vigorous  stock  which  insure  success  in  war  and  the 
accumulation  of  wealth.  To  have  many  sons  is,  therefore, 
an  ideal  and  to  have  them  leagued  together  in  the  interest 
of  family  strength  is  in  some  degree  a  necessity.  The 
simple  government  required  is  exercised  by  the  patriarch 
of  the  family.  Such  a  strong,  growing  family  will  be 
joined  by  other  families  in  self-defence  and  will  rapidly 
develop  into  a  strong  tribe  if  no  untoward  accident  be- 
falls it.  These  different  families  are  only  theoretically  of 
one  blood,  though  by  marriage  the  original  differences  may 
be  minimized.  They  are  known  by  some  common  tribal 
name  and  brand  their  camels  with  a  common  tribal  mark, 
or  "wasm."  Their  greatest  need,  practically  their  religion, 
is  the  existence  for  which  they  strive.  A  kind  of  morale 
ensues  which  is  the  tribal  convention.  According  to  it  the 
women  have  their  work,  often  very  hard,  the  men  their 
duties  of  brotherhood,  raid  and  revenge.  Even  the  chil- 
dren have  their  sphere  into  which  they  fit  according  to  sex 
and  into  which  the  stranger  may  not  come  at  all  except  by 
the  fiction  of  relationship.  It  will  be  readily  seen  that,  in  a 
land  of  wastes  where  groups  only  can  exist  and  no  mere 
individual,  to  be  excluded  by  the  judgment  of  the  tribe  from 
its  membership  would  mean  death.  Such  outlawing  is  the 
ultimate  treatment  of  the  serious  offender.  Patriotism  is 
that  higher  form  of  self-interest  which  makes  an  Arab  the 
devotee  of  his  tribe's  welfare.  The  successes,  failures, 
quarrels  and  fate  of  the  tribe  are  his  own.  The  results  of 
the  raid,  whether  gain  or  loss,  are  shared. 

The  shaykh  of  the  tribe  is  its  leading  man,  not  a  legis- 
lator. He  exerts  authority  by  personal  influence  and  moral 
suasion  and  cannot  constrain  otherwise,  in  theory  at  least, 

251 


THE        PEASANTRY        OF        PALESTINE 

any  member  of  his  tribe.  The  preeminence  is  likely  to 
remain  in  his  family  if  it  continues  noble  and  well-to-do,  a 
useful  object  of  pride  to  the  tribe.  If  a  higher  organization 
of  the  tribal  life  should  follow  upon  extension  of  power, 
the  leading  man  may  become  a  prince  or  emir  or  even  a 
conqueror  and  ruler,  as  on  several  occasions  in  history. 

The  passions  of  the  Arab  are  intense.  His  hungry  life 
for  so  large  a  part  of  the  year,  his  picturesque  imagination, 
and  simple  demands  join  with  a  chivalry  born  of  the  tribal 
manners  to  make  him  cultivate  at  once  ideals  of  generosity 
and  vengeful  hate.  To  be  a  noble  host  of  the  wayfarer  and 
the  implacable  foe  of  the  one  who  has  harmed  him  are 
equally  demanded  by  his  code.  *Abd  al-Malik  the  son  of 
*Abd  ar-Bahim,  a  poet  of  the  Sons  of  Dayyan,  sang : 

"Like  rain  of  the  heaven  are  we;  there  is  not  in  all  our  line 
One  blunt  of  heart,  nor  among  us  is  counted  a  niggard. 
We  say  nay  whenso  we  will  to  the  words  of  other  men : 
But  no  man  to  us  says  nay  when  we  give  sentence. 
When  passes  a  lord  of  our  line,  in  his  stead  there  rises 

straight 

A  lord  to  say  the  say  and  do  the  deeds  of  the  noble. 
Our  beacon  is  never  quenched  to  the  wanderer  of  the  night 
Nor  has  ever  a  guest  blamed  us  where  men  meet  together. ' ' 

(LyalPs  trans.) 

In  a  poem  by  Al-Fadl  (Lyall  XIII)  occurs  the  following : 

"Each  of  us  has  his  ground  for  the  loathing  his  fellow 

moves, 
A  grace  it  is  from  the  Lord  that  we  hate  you,  ye  us/' 

Kurait,  son  of  Unaif,  poured  scorn  upon  the  people  who 
weakly  fail  to  avenge  wrongdoing  and  holds  up  to  con- 
tempt their  softness  in  the  words: 

252 


THE    PEASANTRY    OF    PALESTINE 

'  *  They  requite  with  forgiveness  the  wrong  of  those  that  do 

them  wrong, 
And  the  evil  deeds  of  the  evil  they  meet  with  kindness  and 

love."  (Lyall  I.) 

Poets  form  the  most  renowned  class  of  men  among  the 
Arabs.  Great  enterprises  were  led  by  the  word  of  the  poet. 
To  him  they  looked  for  stimulus  and  guidance  in  their 
raids,  encampments,  aspirations,  disputes,  loves  and  hates. 
The  Arab  is  exceedingly  sensitive  to  the  spoken  word  of 
praise  or  blame.  There  is  in  him  also  a  primitive  response 
to  the  oracular,  the  mysterious  and  the  magical.  Speech  is 
probably  the  most  pretentious  and  commanding  gift  of 
man  in  early  stages  of  culture.  Even  among  highly  civilized 
people  it  is  the  vehicle  of  the  profoundest  intellectual  pos- 
sessions and  abilities.  Human  nature  is  impatient  for  the 
goods  of  the  world.  The  slow  process  of  causes  has  been 
brushed  aside  and  resort  has  been  had  to  magical  means. 
Besides  this  there  is  the  human  hunger  for  the  fairy-tale. 
We  slip  the  leash  of  the  real  that  we  may  run  riot  in  the 
delights  of  a  care-free  world  of  the  imagination.  In  that 
world  the  old  time  non-democratic  spirit  prevails  and 
princes  and  powers  and  gorgeous  effects  are  barbarously 
indulged.  The  poet  is  one  of  those  who  minister  to  us  of 
this  world  of  imagination. 

A  strong  reason  for  the  veneration  which  was  felt  for 
the  spoken  word  in  Arabia,  as  elsewhere  in  Semitic  lands, 
is  the  innate  conviction  that  the  burden  or  message  of  the 
word  is  an  entity  for  good  or  ill,  independent  of  the  human 
personality  which  serves  as  a  medium.  For  it  is  thought 
that  in  the  utterance  of  blessings  or  cursings  supernatural 
powers  seize  upon  the  mind  or  the  organs  of  speech  of 
possessed  personalities  and  speak  effectively  through  them. 
Thus  if  a  curse  can  be  held  back,  or  a  blessing  restrained, 

253 


THE        PEASANTRY        OF        PALESTINE 

there  is  a  non-existence  of  that  fact  instead  of  its  existence 
to  be  reckoned  with.  The  sting  of  satire  set  free  by  a  poet's 
eloquence  is  a  veritable  wound  more  serious  than  a  physical 
stab.  The  humiliation  and  despair  of  an  early  Arab  who 
fell  under  the  shafts  of  a  real  poet  were  without  remedy 
unless  there  was  a  superior  poet  to  wreak  adequate  revenge. 
Certain  of  the  old  poets  were  warriors  as  well  and  repre- 
sented the  complete  ideal.  They  were  hardy  rangers  of 
the  desert  wastes,  patient,  chivalrous,  vindictive,  devotees 
of  the  claims  of  blood-kinship.  The  flourishing  period  of 
classical  Arabian  poetry  was  during  the  century  and  a  half 
preceding  the  death  of  Muhammad. 

Muhammad  was  born  in  Mecca  and  spent  the  last  ten 
years  of  his  life  at  Medina.  Both  cities  are  in  the  rough 
highland,  between  the  district  of  Nejd  and  the  coast.  This 
highland  ridge  goes  by  the  name  of  the  Hijaz  or  Barrier 
and  is  near  the  route  of  the  traders'  caravans  from  South 
Arabia  to  Syria  and  the  Mediterranean.  Mecca  and 
Yathrib  (original  name  of  Medina)  on  account  of  this 
caravan  route  rose  to  be  cities  of  prominence.  Mecca  was 
specially  important  because  it  was  also  a  place  of  resort  for 
pilgrims  long  before  the  rise  of  Islam.  At  first  this  may 
have  been  because  of  the  presence  there  of  a  remarkable 
meteoric  stone,  which  still  remains,  sheltered  by  the  Ka'ba 
and  venerated  by  the  whole  Moslem  world.  Moslem  tradi- 
tion began  early  to  elaborate  the  traditions  of  Mecca  and 
has  put  them  beyond  the  disentanglement  of  criticism.  To 
the  Moslem,  Mecca  was  the  city  of  Abraham  who,  with  all 
the  good  saints  of  old,  was  a  Moslem.  The  Moslems  claim 
that  the  Jews  and  Christians  have  so  perverted  the  original 
sacred  scriptures  of  the  Old  Testament  and  the  original 
faith,  which  was  the  Moslem  faith,  that  not  until 
Muhammad's  time  were  things  seen  in  their  true  light. 
However,  there  were  in  Arabia  in  the  period  a  little  earlier 
than  Muhammad  forerunners,  who  were  essentially  mono- 

254 


THE        PEASANTRY        OF        PALESTINE 

theists,  the  so-called  haneefs.  Muhammad  was,  therefore, 
the  renewer,  not  the  inventor  of  Islam,  the  prophet  to 
destroy  the  idolatries  of  Arabia  which  had  accumulated  in 
the  jahiliyya,  or  uncivilized  period.  Certain  members  of 
Muhammad's  own  household  and  tribe  were  among  his 
earliest  converts.  His  wife  may  have  been  the  first.  He 
seemed,  to  many  of  his  own  kinsfolk  and  townspeople,  to 
be  a  dangerous  innovator.  They  must  have  feared  the* 
effect  of  his  iconoclastic  teaching  on  the  preeminent  posi- 
tion of  their  city  and  on  the  incomes  derived  from  the 
pilgrimages  to  its  shrines. 

The  Ka'ba  itself,  within  which  were  ranged  many  idols, 
was  in  the  special  care  of  the  prophet's  tribe,  the  Kuraysh, 
which  was  the  leading  tribe  of  Mecca.  Before  the  birth  of 
the  prophet  a  city  to  the  south  of  Mecca,  called  Sana,  had 
been  a  competing  shrine  but  had  lost  prestige  in  favor  of 
Mecca.  All  Arabs  had  felt  a  thrill  of  triumph  in  the  defeat 
inflicted  on  the  forces  of  Persia  at  the  battle  of  Dhu  Qar  in 
610  A.D.  Just  as  the  ancient  Greeks  had  felt  an  increased 
sense  of  solidarity  when  they  discovered  the  decline  of  the 
supposedly  powerful  Persia  of  their  day  through  the  cam- 
paign of  the  younger  Cyrus,  so  now  the  Arabs  felt  relief  and 
gathered  encouragement  from  the  revelation  of  Persia's 
weakness.  Thus  in  the  early  lifetime  of  the  prophet  a 
number  of  forces,  linguistic,  religious  and  political,  had 
joined  with  his  sense  of  revelation  and  mission  to  make 
him  an  invincible  leader.  He  was  a  thoroughly  representa- 
tive Arab,  superior  in  mental  power  and  religious  fervor, 
sincere,  of  the  order  of  Semitic  prophets,  the  man  for 
the  hour  in  Arabia.  He  shrank  at  first  from  his  call  but 
was  encouraged  by  his  wife  and  by  the  devotion  of  a  few 
friends  and  converts  to  go  forward.  He  summoned  the 
Meccans  to  renounce  idols  and  to  worship  the  one  god.  He 
was  persecuted  severely  and  would  doubtless  have  lost  his 
life  except  for  his  powerful  family  connections,  which 

255 


THE        PEASANTRY        OF        PALESTINE 

made  it  unsafe  for  his  enemies  to  risk  a  blood  feud.  At 
last  he  took  the  step  that  made  him  the  non-partisan  apostle 
to  Arabia  and  in  622  A.D.,  accepting  the  invitation  of 
the  citizens  of  Yathrib,  he  fled  from  his  own  house,  where 
he  was  enduring  a  state  of  siege,  and  made  his  way  to  the 
town  that  was  henceforth  to  be  known  as  Medinet  en-Neby, 
the  Prophet's  City,  or  in  its  shorter  form,  Medina,  The 
City.  There  he  waxed  prosperous  and  used  the  sword  of 
vengeance  as  well  as  of  conquest.  Converts  came  individ- 
ually and  in  groups.  He  campaigned  against  his  own  home 
city,  Mecca,  conquered  it  and  purged  it  of  many  of  its 
grosser  abuses,  including  the  idols.  He  sent  letters  to  the 
sovereigns  of  Persia  and  Constantinople  demanding  sub- 
mission. In  632  A.D.  he  died  and  was  buried  in  Medina, 
where  his  tomb  is  the  principle  treasure  of  the  great  mosk. 
Within  seventy  years  of  Muhammad's  death  his  Arabs  had 
conquered  the  whole  of  Egypt,  North  Africa  to  the  Atlantic, 
the  Spanish  peninsula,  and  parts  of  India.  Surely  this 
was  no  ordinary  man  or  influence  that  could  thus  turn  the 
desert  ranger  into  a  citizen  of  Europe,  Africa,  and  Asia, 
and  turn  so  many  provinces  and  kingdoms  to  the  speech 
and  doctrine  of  the  Arab.  Native  populations  in  the  con- 
quered countries  secured  exemptions  and  brotherhood  if 
they  accepted  the  faith  of  Islam.  Otherwise  they  paid 
tribute  or  were  harried  by  the  sword. 

Four  caliphs  (successors)  followed  Muhammad  at  Medina. 
They  kept  close  to  the  primitive  ideal  of  the  warring 
prophet  of  Islam.  They  were  Abu  Bakr,  'Umar,  'Uthman 
and  ' Ali.  They  fall  within  the  thirty  years  after  the  death 
of  the  prophet.  They  were  followed  by  a  dynasty  of 
rulers  of  less  Muhammadan  characteristics  which  estab- 
lished the  government  at  Damascus.  (661-750  A.D.)  They 
were  succeeded  by  still  a  different  type  of  rulers,  the  princes 
of  the  House  of  Abbas  at  Bagdad.  The  Damascus  House, 
known  as  the  Umayyads,  had  wrested  the  power  from  'Ali 

256 


THE        PEASANTRY        OF        PALESTINE 

and  the  Prophet's  family,  but  their  success  was  always 
resented  by  the  more  southerly  Arabs  and  fought  especially 
by  Iraq  (Mesopotamia)  and  the  Arabs  near  Persia.  Thus 
the  political  unity  of  Islam  was  early  broken  up  and  is  less 
and  less  likely  to  be  restored.  The  real  strength  of  Islam 
was  abroad  where  Arabian  soldiers  were  quartered  in  camp 
cities  or  were  engaged  in  victorious  armies  and  where  their 
fateful  fighting  qualities  and  intense  loyalty  to  the  mis- 
sionary idea  of  Islam  made  a  distinctly  contrasted  class 
as  against  the  populations  they  overcame  by  the  sword 
or  by  conversion. 

In  all  historic  times  desert  Arabia  has  been  a  political 
hollow  between  the  great  powers.  It  Was  empty  of  the 
things  for  which  civilization  fought,  but  it  was  the  home 
of  a  virile  stock  of  nomads  who  possessed  comparative  free- 
dom at  least.  In  the  deserts  the  type  of  life  has  not  changed 
for  thousands  of  years.  Such  a  life  is  free  because  the  out- 
sider does  not  covet  it.  The  native  will  relinquish  it  only 
gradually.  The  roaming  Arab  is  bound  by  the  inexorable 
natural  conditions  of  his  world  and  the  social  conventions 
which  those  conditions  impose.  His  treasures  are  his  family, 
his  horse,  and  his  instruments  of  petty  warfare.  Before 
Muhammad's  time,  there  were  on  the  Eastern  borders  of 
Arabia  princes  who  were  practically  subsidized  by  the 
Persian  emperors.  On  the  Western  side  were  other  princes 
under  the  protection  of  the  Byzantine  rulers,  while  in  the 
far  South  were  still  other  kingdoms  and  loyalties  to  political 
patrons,  influenced  at  times  by  the  kingdom  of  Abyssinia. 
Muhammad  and  his  four  successors  gave  this  divided 
Arabia  the  completest  unity  it  has  ever  known.  At  present 
it  is  reaching  vaguely  for  something  approaching  that  same 
unity.  During  the  World  War  the  Shereef  of  Mecca,  with 
his  sons,  threw  off  the  control  of  Turkey  and  made  the 
Hijaz,  which  includes  the  sacred  cities  of  Mecca  and 
Medina,  a  free  kingdom.  Into  this  sacred  land  no  Christian 

257 


THE        PEASANTRY        OF        PALESTINE 

or  other  non-Moslem  is  supposed  to  step.  Lawrence  the 
intrepid  went  there  to  counsel  with  Emir  Faysal,  third 
son  of  the  shereef,  by  special  and  dangerous  arrangement. 
He  found  the  Arabs  resting  after  their  initial  campaign 
and  stirred  them  to  aggressive  action,  northward,  to  destroy 
the  Turkish  communications  and  to  stir  the  more  northerly 
Arabs  to  combine  and  to  furnish  support  on  the  East  and 
right  of  the  operations  under  Allenby  who  was  working  up 
from  Egypt  through  Palestine. 

READING  LIST 

THE  ENCYCLOPAEDIA  OF  ISLAM. 

NICHOLSON:  "A  Literary  History  of  the  Arabs." 

BROWNE:   "The  Literary  History  of  Persia." 

FBEEMAN,  E.  A. :  "  History  and  Conquests  of  the  Saracens." 

MARGOLIOUTH,  D.  S. :  "  Mohammed  and  the  Rise  of  Islam." 

WRIGHT,  W. :  "  Early  Christianity  in  Arabia." 

TOTAH,  KHALIL  A.:  "Journal  of  Race  Development."  Vol.  6,  No.  3. 

Jan.,  1916  (pp.  315-323). 
ALI,  SYED  AMEER:  "  Short  History  of  the  Saracens."    London,  1899. 


258 


INDEX  OF  SCRIPTURE  PASSAGES 


PAGE 

Gen.    8: 22 22 

9:6 169 

15:2 63 

23: 11,  15 147 

24:  3,  4 53 

24:  25 135 

24:  60 53 

24:  65 57 

25:  34 79 

27:  5 168 

28:  2 53 

29:22 59 

29:26 54 

29:34 54 

30:  14 25 

30:  20 54 

38: 18 91 

43:23 161 

50:  3 100 

Ex.  20: 12 71 

Num.  20:  29 100 

22:  6 178 

22:24 34 

35:21 169 

36:8-11 53 

Deut.    4:  19 123 

8:8 144 

11:14 25 

12:2 Ill 

14: 1 100 

14:21 52 

15:3 52 

19:21 169 

21:1-9 53 

22:8.  70 


PAGE 

Deut.  22:  10 136 

22:23,24 55 

23:20 52 

23:  25 134 

24:  20 140 

25:4 136 

27:  17 132 

34:6 119 

Josh.  4:  3-5,  20 127 

5:11 86 

15:19 20 

21:12 131 

Judges    4:  19 84 

5:6,7 225 

5:  16 142 

5:25 84 

6:2 16 

6:11  62 

12:6 173 

13-15  17 

19:5-8 161 

21:25 225 

Ruth  1:20 74 

1:22 136 

2:8,9    135 

2:10 163 

2:14 86 

2:23 136 

ISam.    1:10,  11 117 

2: 12 175 

7:5 38 

13:5,6 16 

14: 11,  22 16 

16: 12 47 

17: 28  .                .  142 


259 


INDEX       OF      SCRIPTURE       PASSAGES 


PAGE 

1  Sam.  17:  40 142 

17:43 178 

19:24 99 

21:12-15 99 

23: 1 136 

25:35 161 

26:  20 168 

30:  6 38 

30: 12 81 

2  Sam.  2:12 73 

2:  29 153 

3:27 169 

3:31 100 

6:14 119 

12:16 100 

18:17 116 

18:33 100 

21:9 136 

23:4 23 

23:  20 23 

1  Kings  6:  23,  31-33 39 

12:18 38 

17:7 15 

18:  4 16 

18:  28 120 

18:43-45  .4 24 

19:9,  13 16 

20:  32 158 

21:3 142 

2  Kings  3:  25 38 

4:19 95 

4:  39 87 

9:  17 44 

17:24-41 125 

18:  26 174 

20:  7 94 

20:20 22 

2  Chron.  20:  7 114 

Neh.  5:4 227 

5:15 180 

Job  1:1-3 43,131 


Job  1:  14 
2:11 
3:1  . 

4:7  . 


PAOB 

133 

94 

178 

118 

6: 15,  17 15 

9:33 150 

21:32 100 

29:23 25 

Psalms  1:4 137 

23:2 142 

55:17 118 

55:23 118 

63: 1 133 

65:  9-13 25 

91 118 

104:10 16 

107:  4-7 35 

126:  5,  6 135 

127:  3-5 53 

129:6 27 

131:2 66 

144: 12-15 51 

Prov.  11:22 183 

12:  27 168 

13:3 182 

15: 17 182 

15:27 180 

16:15 25 

18:23 161 

21:19 182 

21:23 182 

25:16 183 

25:  23 26 

26: 1 24 

26:2 178 

Eccl.  2:6 21 

7:17 118 

12:5 100 

Song  2:11 22 

2:12 28 

2: 15  .  31 


260 


INDEX       OF       SCRIPTURE       PASSAGES 


PAGK 

20 

47 

20 

25 

.34,38,139 

140 

139 

180 

135 

40 


Song  4:2 

5:10  ... 

6:6  .... 

7:  13  ... 

Isa.    5:2  .... 

5:5  .... 

5:6  .... 

5:  23  ... 

9:3  .... 

28: 4  .... 

28:  24,  25 133 

32:2 28 

33:12 35,151 

35:  7 19 

40:11 141 

41:8 114 

41:15 136 

41:18 19 

42:  15 19 

50:2 180 

59:1 180 

61:10 59 

Jer.  2:32 59 

3:3 25 

4:3 36,133 

5:24 25 

6: 16 35 

6:  26 100 

8:  20 25 

9:17 100 

18: 17 25 

22:  18 100 

Ezek.  17:10 25 

19:12 25 

34: 14 35 

Hosea  6:3 25 

10: 11 136 

10:12 36,133 

13:3 12 

13:  15 25 

Joel  2:  23  .  25 


PAGE 

Joel  2:24 136 

Amos  4:7 25 

5:12 180 

9:9 137 

Jonah  4:8 25 

Micah  4:  12,  13 136 

Hab.    1:13  180 

Zech.  8:  5 69 

10:  1 25 

Matt.  3:4 84 

3:9 114 

4:5 38 

4:  18 84 

5:  14 34 

5:38,39 169 

5:44-46 52 

5:  47 162 

6:5 118 

6:  30 79 

7:  19 39 

8:14 ..  94 

8:  28 99 

9:15 58 

12:1 134 

13:3 133 

13:25-30 135 

13:44 157,214 

21:33 139 

22:3,4 161 

23:7 161 

23:27 Ill 

23:37 38 

24:20 23 

24:41 92 

25:32 140 

26:  23 89 

26:73 48 

27:  25 169 

27:  53 38 

Mark  4:29 136 

5:27  .                    .  120 


261 


INDEX   OF   SCRIPTURE   PASSAGES 


PAGE 

Mark  12:  40   180 

13:  18    23 

Luke   1:61 73 

10:  40 92 

15:  16 88 

19:2,  8 226 

24:  36 161 

John    4:6 21,  125 

4:9 125 

5:  8,  9 76 

8:39 114 

8:  59 38 

9:7 22 

10:31  .  38 


PAOB 

John  12:  13 124 

12:  20 125 

12:36 175 

13:5 124 

15   37 

Acts  5:  15 120 

19:  12 120 

Gal.  3:  19 150 

ITim.  2:5 150 

Heb.    8:6 150 

9:15 150 

12:24 150 

James   2:23 114 

5:  7  .  25 


GENERAL  INDEX 


'Abdyeh,  142,  144. 
Abraham,  114. 
Abu  'Aynayn,  216. 
'Abud,  224. 
Abu  Ghdsh,  225. 
Abu  Shusheh,  17. 
Alcoholics,  88  f.,  98. 
American  College,  96;    Press, 

170. 
Animals,  wild,  31;    domestic, 

131,  134,  136,  153. 
Antiquities,  156  f. 
Arabic,  172  ff. 
<Arak,  138. 
Architects,  153. 
Arrabdn,  154. 
•Atfurtyeh,  97. 
Assessors,  226. 
«A#ra,  20,  190. 
'Aujd  river,  18. 
'Ayn  el-Akabeh,  218. 

„     'Arfk',216. 

„     el-A?/ur,  217. 

„    el-Azdb,217. 

„     el-Bur jt  200  f. 

„    Fdra,  16,  20. 

„    el-Jdmi,  216. 

„     Jeriyut,  21. 

„     Kdnyeh,  192. 

„    el-Ka$r,  201. 

„     Kefrtyeh,  21. 

„     el-Kusa,  217. 

„     Minjid,  201. 

„     Mi£&dfc,  196,  201. 

„     Mizrdb,  201. 

„    en-Nu§beh,  20,  190. 


/2ds  e^-B^r,  217. 
esh-Shaykh,  217. 
Sinyd,  223. 


,  216. 
et-Toreh,2l7. 
Umm  el-Kerzam,  201. 
Yebrud,  115. 


B46  el-Wdd,  107. 

Baggage,  227,  236. 

Bairam,  121. 

5aM'a,  19,  196. 

Bdmyeh,  82. 

Banks,  227,  237. 

Banners,  119. 

Baptism,  66. 

Bargaining,  146,  154. 

Ba{n  el-Hawd,  200. 

Bayt  Hanind,  189. 

Baytunyeh,  199. 

Beads,  117. 

Bedawln,  43,  130,  221. 

Bethel,  or  Bay  tin,  217  f. 

Betrothal,  55. 

Bigamy,  63. 

Birds,  31  f. 

el-Btreh,  191,  207  f. 

Birth,  65. 

BIT  ez-Zayt,  223. 

Blacksmithing,  155. 

Blind,  96,  172. 

Blood  revenge,  169. 

Booths,  76. 

Boundaries  of  the  village,  192. 

Bread,  79. 

Bribery,  108,  180,  227,  229. 


263 


GENERAL     INDEX 


Bubonic  plague,  231. 

Building  material,  151  f. 

Burghid,  79. 

Burj,  44,  200;  Baytln,  218. 

Business,  130  ff.,  209. 

Butcher,  146,  195.        [See  Work. 

Cactus,  88. 

Calendar,  124,  239. 

Calls,  160,  204. 

Camels,  12,  136,  155. 

Carmel,  Mt.,  15. 

Carob  pod,  88. 

Carriage  service,  154. 

Cavasses,  233. 

Caves,  16  ff.,  217;  sanctuary, 
196. 

Charms,  93. 

Children,  64,  66  f.,  69;  child- 
lessness, 208. 

Cholera,  103  ff.,  231. 

Church  influence,  45. 

Church  law,  59,  63. 

Church  Missionary  Society, 
197,  221  ff. 

Church,  old,  at  el-Bireh,  113. 

Church,  old,  at  Rdm  Alldh,  113. 

Church,  old,  at  e^ayyibeh, 
113. 

Circassians,  227. 

Cisterns,  21,  75,  222;  grain, 
137;  oil,  195. 

City,  appearance  of  a,  33,  43. 

Clothing,  see  Dress. 

Coffee,  81  f.,  160,  164. 

Colloquialisms,  176  ff. 

Common  dish,  89;  cup,  82,  164. 

Complexions,  47. 

Compliments,  206. 

Consular  service,  227,  237. 

Conversation,  169  f,  165. 

Court,  house,  76;   law,  229. 


Crier,  public,  149. 

Crocodile,  31. 

Crusaders'  Church,  210. 

Culture,  170. 

Cup,  common,  82,  164. 

Curses,  178. 

Customs,  see  Birth,  Weddings, 

Death,  etc. 
Customs,  tariff,  237. 

Dabkeh,  168,  186. 

Ddftir,  81. 

Dakkik,  153. 

Dancers,  59;  dancing,  168. 

DAr,  51. 

Dayr  Dtwdn,  218. 

Deaconesses  (Kaiserswertii),  83. 

Dead  Sea,  18. 

Death,  99  f.,  103,  164  f. 

Deeds,  land,  192. 

Demons,  98. 

Dervish,  118. 

Dhurah,  133,  219. 

Dialectical  matters,  173  ff. 

Dibb-Osy,  142. 

Dibs,  81,  138. 

Disease,  95,  231. 

Dish,  common,  89.     See  Cup. 

D6sh,  167. 

Dress,  49,  90  ff. 

Drinking  customs,  89. 

Dry  season,  20,  23  ff.,  36. 

Dumb,  96,  112,  192. 

Dtirah,  219. 

Dust,  95. 

Earthquake,  202. 
Easter,  123  f. 
Eating  customs,  89. 
Education,  170. 
Eftendtyeh,  225. 
Elders,  52. 


264 


GENERAL    INDEX 


Eli  and  Sibyl  Jones  Mission, 

197.     See  Friends. 
Emigration,  228  f.,  237. 
Entertainment,  164,  167. 
Esdraelon,  15. 
Evening  scenery,  12,  190. 
Evil-eye,  116. 
Exclamatory  remarks,  176  ff.; 

with  animals,  134. 
Eyes,  47,  94. 

Family,  53. 
Famine,  107,  109. 
Farming,  39,  130,  133. 
Fast,  Ramaddn,  121;     Lenten, 

124. 

Fatalism,  104,  117. 
Feast    of    St.    Barbara,    124; 

The    Cross,    27,    124;     St. 

George,  124. 
Fedddn,  132. 
Fees  of  priests,  122. 
Fellahin,  131. 
Ferns,  30. 
Feuds,  159,  222. 
Fevers,  94. 
Figs,  28,  40  f.,  81, 139;  plaster, 

94. 

Fines,  229. 
Finjdn,  82,  160. 
Fire-wood,  39. 
Flocks,  26,  36,  140. 
Flowers,  28  ff. 
Foods,  78  ff.,  82,  85. 
Fountains,    20    f.,    190,    196, 

200  f.,  216  ff.,  223. 
Foxes,  31. 
Friendship,  52. 
Friends'  Mission  and  School, 

191,  193,  197. 
Friends'  Mission  at ' Ayn  'Arik, 

217. 


Friends'  Mission  at  Jifna,  222. 
Friends'  Mission  at  e^&yyi- 

beh,  221. 
Friky,  25,  86. 
Fruit,  28,  36,  41,  86. 
Fuel,  79,  211. 
Furniture,  76  f. 

Game,  wild,  84. 

Games,  70  f.,  167. 

Gardening,  144,  145,  216. 

Garments,  wedding,  55. 

Gazels,  31. 

Geology,  14. 

Gerizim,  Mt.,  126. 

Ghdr,  13,  15,  221. 

Gipsies,  155,  168. 

Girls,  64  f.,  67. 

Goats,  140  f.;  goat-meat,  195. 

Go-between,  150. 

Gospel  and  Kurdn,  123. 

Gossip,  160. 

Government  of  country  from 
city,  225  f. 

Graffiti,  210. 

Grain,  133  f. 

Grapes,  36  f.,  138. 

Graves,  18,  99,  103;  Samari- 
tan, 126. 

Greek  Church,  122,  204  f. 

Greek  fire,  124. 

Greetings,  161  ff. 

Groceries,  145. 

Guest-room  or  house,  59,  164. 

Hail-storm,  202. 
Hanauer,  Rev.  J.  G.,  176. 
ffardm,  214. 

IJarim  or  harem,  120,  233. 
Harvest,  25,  135  f. 
Head-dress,  91.     See  Dress. 


265 


GENERAL    INDEX 


Health  conditions,  27.       See 

Disease. 
Heat,  12,  23. 
tfeldweh,  87. 
Henna,  59. 
Hermon,  Mt.,  32. 
Hills,  14,  39. 

Hill  sites,  34,  44,  48,  222. 
Hirdhdn,  31,  179. 
Hishis,  31. 
Hi?rim,  81. 
Home  affairs,  75  ff. 
Honey,  87. 
Hospices,  234. 
Hospitals,  89,  96. 
Hospitality,  160,  165. 
Hotels,  235. 
Household  tasks,  91;  utensils, 

77  ff. 

House  structure,  75,  211. 
HAleh,  18. 
Hummus,  137. 
Hunting,  168. 
Hyenas,  18,  99. 

Illness,  27,  94. 
Insane,  96  ff.,  99,  note. 
Insects,  31. 
Interest,  149,  205. 
Invitations,  161. 
Irrigation,  22. 

Jars,  93. 

Jeba',  16. 

Jebel  TawU,  32,  210. 

Jellies,  86. 

Jerisheh,  79. 

Jerusalem,  view  of,  33. 

Jewelry,  54,  59. 

Jezreel,  15. 

Jiben,  84. 

Jifnd,  222. 


Kaliyeh,  86. 
Kasr,  139. 
Kafrawdny,  111. 
Kays,  225. 
Kefriyeh,  201. 
Kefr  Shiydn,  216. 
el-Khalil,  113. 
Khdn,  194,  209. 
Kharay}un,  16. 
Khatib,  171,  186. 
Khurbet  Jibya,  224. 
Kilns,  151. 
Kinship,  158,  230. 
Khulleh,  196. 
Khullet  el- Adas,  200,  215. 
Khury,  122,  205. 
Kurdn  and  Gospel,  123. 
Kursenneh,  135. 
KwsMn,  192. 

Labor,  91. 

Lakes,    Huleh,    Tiberias    and 

the  Dead  Sea,  18. 
Lamps,  clay,  111  ff. 
Land,  holding,  131. 
Lane's  "  Manners  and  Customs 

of  the  Modern  Egyptians," 

119. 

Language,  166,  172  ff. 
Learning,  47,  170. 
Leaven,  78. 
Leben,  84. 
Leeches,  95. 
Lemons,  28. 
Lentils,  79. 
Lepers,  99. 

Lime,  151 ;  kilns,  35  f . ;  stone,  15. 
Literary  work,  170. 
Lizards,  31. 
Loans,  149. 
Locusts,  84. 
Looms,  144. 


266 


GENERAL    INDEX 


Mahshy,  85. 

Maiden-hair  fern,  17,  30. 

Makdm,  111. 

Makltibeh,  85. 

Male  children,  63. 

Ma'ltif,  141. 

Mandrake,  25. 

Mardmiyeh,  81. 

Maritime  Plain,  15. 

Mdr  Jurjus,  114;  ElyAs,  115. 

Markets,  145,  155  f.,  194. 

Marriage,  49,  53  f. 

Masons,  151;  marks,  210. 

Meals,  89. 

Measures  and  weights,  147. 

Meat,  84,  195. 

Medical  data,  94,  96. 

Merchants,  194. 

Michmash,  16. 

Midwife,  66. 

Mikhba,  139. 

MikW,  70. 

Mil'ab,  56. 

Milk,  26. 

Minsaf,  166. 

Mireh,  131. 

Mists,  11  f.,  24,  135. 

Mitchell,  Professor  H.  G.,  176. 

Molasses,  138. 

Monasteries,  125. 

Money,  147,  155,  230;  chang- 
ing, 148;  lending,  149,  205. 

Montenegrins,  233. 

Months,  Christian,  Jew  and 
Moslem,  239. 

Mortar  and  pestle  for  coffee, 
82. 

Mosks,  113  f.;  Mosk  of  Omar, 
view,  189. 

Mourners,  100,  103,  164  f. 

Mudtr,  226. 

Muezzin,  119. 


Mukdfa  'AMd,  224. 
Mukhtdr,  151. 
Mulberry,  28,  223. 
Mules,  220. 
Mulk,  131. 
Mfy,  27,  137. 
Muzzling  animals,  136. 

Names,  66,  72  ff. 
Ndrjileh,  166. 
Nd'u?,  27. 
Neby  MAsd,  119. 
Neby  $dlih,  224. 
Neighbors,  159,  198. 
News,  231. 
Nicknames,  74. 
Nights,  23. 
Noah's  Cave,  17. 
Nomads,  130. 
Noon  heat  and  rest,  12. 
Nuts,  86. 

Oak,  28. 

Officials,  230. 

Oil,  80  f.,  140. 

Old  Testament  sites,  117. 

Olive  press,  old,  213. 

Olives,  28,  39  f.,  80,  140,  223. 

Omens,  202. 

Oranges,  25,  28,  144. 

Orphans,  172. 

Ovens,  78. 

Palmer,  Professor  E.  H.,  cited, 

213. 

Parched  wheat,  86. 
Parents,  titles  of,  66. 
Parties,  159. 

Partnership  in  crops,  221. 
Passes,  15,  226. 
Pastures,  36. 
Paths,  35,  154. 


267 


GENERAL    INDEX 


Patriarchates,  Greek,  122. 
Peacemaking,  228  f. 
Pear-trees,  223. 
Periodical  literature,  170. 
Peters,  Dr.  John  P.,  216. 
Philosophy.     See  Proverbs, 

Stories,  etc. 
Phrases,  161  ff. 
Pilgrims,  232  f.,  235;   Moslem, 

111,  120;    Roman  Catholic, 

225. 

Pine-trees,  28. 
Place-names,  174. 
Plasters,  94. 
Play,  68,  70,  167  f. 
Plowing,  39,  133. 
Pomegranates,  28,  41. 
Ponds,  19. 

Population,  43  f.,  47. 
Portents,  202. 
Postal  service,  227,  230  f. 
Pottery,  93. 
Prayer,  203;    in  sickness,  93; 

to  Abraham,  114;    Moslem, 

118  f.;    for  offspring,   117; 

of  women,  114;  for  rain,  202. 
Press,  231;  American,  170. 
Prices,  building  materials,  151; 

food,  146. 

Priesthood,  Christian,  121  f. 
Priests,  204. 
Printing,  170. 
Proverbs,  52,  83  f.,  87,  89,  94, 

116,  176,  179  ff. 
Pruning,  139. 

Public  weal,  149  ff.,  193,  230. 
Punishment,  226. 

Quaker  Mission.     See  Friends. 
Quarantine,     105,    107,     137, 

231  f. 
Quarrels,  168  f.,  227  ff. 


Quarry  at  el-Btreh,  210. 
Quarrying,  151. 
Quartering  of  soldiers,  227. 

Rabdb,  164. 

Raftdya,  209. 

Railway,  232  f. 

Rain,  23  f.,  27. 

Rainfall,  22. 

Rain-water,  222. 

Rais,  122. 

Raisins,  138  f. 

er-RAm,  190. 

RamadAn,  121. 

RAm  AUAh,  187, 191  ff.;  settle- 
ment of,  206;  schools,  171. 

Reaping,  25,  135. 

Refreshments,  86,  160. 

Religion,  43  ff.,  110  ff.,  117;  as 
a  social  factor,  158. 

Remedies,  94. 

Reservoirs,  21,  210. 

Revenge,  169. 

Reverence,  71. 

Rice,  80. 

Ridicule,  fear  of,  90. 

Rimmon,  220. 

Rivers,  Jordan,  18;  'AujA,  18. 

Roads,  34,  154  f.,  189,  223;  to 
Ram  Allah,  187. 

Road  scenes,  46. 

Robinson,  Professor  Edward, 
cited,  221. 

Rock  cuttings,  17,  217. 

Rocks,  116,  145. 

Roman  Catholic  Church,  122, 
124,  235. 

Roman  roads,  34,  189. 

Roofing-bee,  116. 

Roofs,  27,  75. 

Rooms,  75. 

Rugs,  144. 


268 


GENERAL     INDEX 


Ruins,  18,  21, 190f.,  210,  213  f., 
216,  222. 

Rdjib,  127. 

Russian  influence,  235;  pil- 
grims, 204,  233  f . 

$ahjeh,  168,  184. 

SaM't  4-Ttreh,  213. 

Salt,  146. 

Salutations,  161  ff. 

Samaritans,  125  ff.;  passover 
of,  127  ff. 

Samson  country,  17. 

Sanctuary,  113  f.  See  Shrines. 

Scenery,  12,  20,  32. 

Schneller's  school,  172. 

School  at  el-Bireh,  211. 

Sea,  232. 

Seasons,  22. 

Sects,  84. 

Jhafdt,  189. 

Shaykh,  150. 

Shaykh  Sdlih,  210. 

Shaykh  Yfouf,  222. 

eshrShaytdn,  209. 

Sheep,  57,  59,  140. 

Shephelah,  19. 

Shepherd,  141  f. 

Shipping,  232. 

Shdbek,  206. 

Shoes,  90. 

Shops,  145,  195. 

Shrines,  38,  41,  111  ff.,  117, 
210,  234. 

Sickness.  See  Disease,  Medi- 
cine, etc. 

Sifting,  137. 

Sijeh,  167. 

Silk,  144. 

Sirocco,  11,  25  f. 

Sktfeh,  204,  211. 

Slings,  70. 


Smtd,  79. 

Smoking  bottles,  76. 

$ndber,  80. 

Soap,  81. 

Sociability,  164. 

Society,  158  ff. 

Soil,  15,  18. 

Soldiers,  126,  149  f.,  227,  229  f. 

Song,  168, 184  ff.;  at  weddings, 

56,  60  f. ;  of  mourners,  101  ff. 
Souvenirs,  234. 
Spinning,  143. 
Springs,  16,  20,  24;  warm,  21. 

See  'Ayn. 
Spring-water,  222. 
St.  George,  114,  202. 
Stones,  18,  38. 
Stone  trades,  151. 
Stores,  145. 
Stories,  17  f.,  20,  68,  83,  88, 

111,  166,  171,  176,  179,  205, 

214,  228. 

Stranger  in  village,  132,  164. 
Sugar,  146. 
Silk,  145. 
Summer,  36. 
Superstitions,  93  f.,  98,   114, 

116  f.,  202,  213  f.,  220. 
$urdah,  115. 
SOs,  80. 
Swaddling,  66. 
Sweetmeats,  86  f. 
Syria,  future  of,  228. 
Syrian  Protestant  College,  96. 
Syrians  in  America,  237. 

Talebearing,  230. 

Tarafidya,  wddy  and  'at/n,  199. 

Tares,  135. 

Tarik  el-Majntiny,  199. 

Tattoo,  117. 

Taxes,  144, 146, 150, 192, 226  f. 


269 


GENERAL     INDEX 


4-Tayyibeh,  221. 

Telegraph,  231. 

Terrace,  38  f. 

Thief,  64. 

Thorns,  35. 

Threshing,  136  ff. 

Tiberias,  18. 

Tibn,  137. 

Tibneh,  224. 

Time  of  day,  241. 

ej-Ttreh,  213. 

Tobacco,  146,  164,  166. 

Tomatoes,  82. 

Tombs,  old,  112,  157,  215,  219, 

222  ff. 

Tools,  stoneworkers',  152  f. 
Topographical  remarks,  13,  19, 

32  f. 

Tom,  si. 

Tourist  agent,  236  f. 
Tourists,  225. 
Traders,  145  f.,  194. 
Trade  school,  172. 
Trades,  crafts,  etc.,  155. 
Training  of  children,  67  f.,  71  f. 
Transportation,  154,  194,  236. 
Travel,  28;  afoot,  153;  carriage, 
154;  general,  226,  232,  236. 
Treasure,  214. 
Trees,  14, 27  f.,  41, 223;  sacred, 

115  f.,  219. 
Tribes,  village,  51. 
Turkish  Delight,  88. 
Typhoid,  95. 

'Ud,  164. 
Ukhtiyarlyeh,  135. 
Umm  Barakdt,  116,  219. 
Umm  el-Khuruk,  216. 
United  Greek  Church,  125. 
Urtds,  41,  145. 
Utensils,  household,  77  ff. 


Valley,  15.     See  Wady. 

Vegetables,  82  f. 

Vermin,  31. 

View  from  Jebel  Tawil,  32. 

View  from  Ram  Allah,  189  f. 

View  from  et-Tayyibeh,  221. 

View  of  Jerusalem  from  Sco- 
pus, 188. 

View  of  Ram  Allah,  214. 

Views  of  the  Mediterranean, 
223. 

Village  ideals,  51. 

Villagers,  appearance  of,  47. 

Villages,  appearance  of,  33,  43. 

Villages,  various,  187. 

Vine  culture,  139,  222. 

Vineyards,  13;  near  Ram 
Allah,  200. 

Wddy,   15;    those  near  Ram 

Allah,  199. 

Wdd  Karom  Shutd,  200. 
Wddy  'Ardk  et-Khardf,  219. 

„      el-Ayn,  220. 

„      ed-Daba,  220. 

„      Fdra,  16. 
Wddy  el-Kelb,  199. 

„      Rayyd,  224. 

„      Shab  el-Kassis,  220. 

„      es-Suwayni},  16,  210. 
Wages,  207. 
Wakf,  131. 
Walls,  34,  194. 
Washing  clothes,  92,  209. 
Wastiyeh,  116,  219. 
Watcher  in  vineyard,  13;  on 

threshing  floor,  136. 
Watch-towers,  38,  139. 
Water  carrying,  68;  supply, 

20,  22,  222. 
Watershed,  19,  191. 
Weather,  23,  155. 


270 


GENERAL     INDEX 


Weddings,  56  ff. 

Wedding  songs,  60  ff. 

Weeping,  165. 

Weights,  147. 

Wells,  21. 

Wheat   and   barley,    78,    133, 

137. 

Widows,  54,  64. 
Wilderness,  35. 

Wild  vegetation,  edible,  87  f. 
Wily,  111. 
Winds,  26,  222. 
Winter,  22,  24,  28. 


Wives,  54,  58,  63. 

Women,  47  ff. 

Wool,  142. 

Work,  207;    woman's,  53,  92. 

Writing,  175. 

Ydzijy,  Shaykh,  170. 
Yemen,  159,  225. 

Zaghdrtit,  57. 
ZAky,  87. 
Zawdn,  135. 
Zinzilakt,  28. 
Zukzdkeh,  27. 


271 


